Dinner In The Field

My wife and I just recently returned from this fall's dinner in the field trip to Italy. All the food was exquisite and the venues varied (in a good way). As the weather was perfect, many other dinners were alfresco. Whether it be on a small farm, a mountaintop or on the beach, the delivery of local flavor food was consistently above our expectations. On a trip where an eclectic group of people need to be organized and transported, as one would expect, there were some hiccups. The few times this happened, our group leaders Gregorio and Mark handled the issues with aplomb. As Calabraia is Gregorio's hometown, they took us to places that one would never know about it they were not from the area. At no time did we feel like tourists. Everyone treated us like family. We knew when we booked the trip that we would be taking classes at the Italian Culinary Institute and those classes did not disappoint. What we did not know as that chief chef John is a comedian of the highest order. We believe this was because we don't think he was trying to be funny. Although we stayed in Italy a few weeks after dinner in the field ended, our time with Gregorio and Mark were by far the best part of Italy. Many thank to Gregorio, Mark and the entire dinner in the field support staff for delivering a first-class adventure. Jeff and Bren