4 Italian blue-collared men and me at lunch on a Wednesday. It was my husband’s business lunch and I was just tagging along. I tried to keep my mouth shut but this serious biz “talk” was getting pretty bleek until I briefly chimed in. All it took was mentioning that I worked at a winery and did wine tours to spur a whirlwind conversation for about 2 hours straight. I chuckled to myself as they carried on enthusiastically from one cultured conversation to another about food and wine. Everyone’s favorite subject! No talking about construction, cars and sports here in Langhe.

at the table with the guys

Instead these were the top 5 topics that Italian men in Langhe talk about at lunch:

1. BLUE CHEESE CHICCHE AND OTHER FAVORITE LOCAL DISHES

These guys were loving their blue cheese chicche! Little spherical ball like potato gnocchi topped with a creamy blue cheese sauce. They couldn’t stop raving about the good value/quality food here at their favorite local spot Degusto in Neive. A place like this is really appreciated by the locals, especially for their fantastic aperitivos!

degustazione degli antipasti

2. PIZZA THAT DOESN’T FERMENT IN YOUR STOMACH 

Nowadays they just don’t make pizza like they used to! This was the topic when discussing this Italian staple. As I have discovered, Italians have very sensitive stomachs. All of us have been noticing that when we go out for pizza, an unquenchable thirst takes over at night. The conclusion: not salty toppings but pizzaiolos who often freeze leftover dough and reheat it the next day. Supposedly this messes up the yeast and fermentation process which continues in the belly when eaten. Even the local craft brews have the same effect. Luckily they all agree on a great pizza made from the “lievito madre” (mother yeast) at Citabiunda in Neive. They can only pull out so much yeast from the mother every night and that’s the limited amount they will make!

3. LOCAL WINEMAKERS AND THEIR WINES

Basically I found out about how powerful and influential Bruno Giacosa is in Neive. I had no idea he owned so many places in this local village. They loved his down to earth attitude despite his fame and fortune! I loved getting all the scoop on winemakers from the locals themselves. As we were eating there, we even exchanged words with the owners of Contratto!

4. RAISING CHILDREN WITHOUT NANNIES

house dolcetto

Guys speaking about children and how to raise them best just really struck an emotional chord! These rough guys were debating whether mothers should spend the first few years of their babies’ lives taking care of them or go back to work. Hands down, all the guys strongly believed that time is precious and that parents need to spend as much time as possible with their little kids. So “teneri”!

5. BAKING WITH ORGANIC FLOURS 

In going back to the pizza and beer conversation, it shifted slightly to how their wives make pizzas. Of course they bought their flour from an organic old mill called Sobrino in La Morra. Another mentioned that he thought that Mulino Marino in the area was even better.

We enjoyed this “business” lunch for over two hours, drinking house dolcetto and propelled in food and wine discussions the whole time. I never would have guessed! I have always been more of a guys’ girl and this has even confirmed it even more in Italy!

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