Darina Allen: Slow Food promotes traditional cooking and farming

Darina Allen shares recipes for Anchovies Crostini, Bicerin, and Vitello Tonnata Salad

Just back from a few inspirational days at Slow Food Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto in Turin – an unmissable biannual event – life-changing.

I’d forgotten what a beautiful, elegant city Turin is.

It was the royal seat of the House of Savoy and is defined by its baroque architecture. Think majestic royal palaces, wide avenues and extensive covered arches and wonderful, mature trees.

Turin’s Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) has the most significant collection of Egyptian artefacts outside Egypt and the Shroud of Turin located in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist.

It is renowned for its historic coffee houses, artisan chocolates including gianduja and the irresistible bicerin – a combination of coffee and chocolate, topped with a generous blob of ice cold cream.

1,500 delegates came from 120 countries to meet and shape a vision for transforming the global food system, protect biodiversity and advocate for peace and justice. It was an opportunity to share their experience and showcase their products. Overall, the event attracted more than 300,000 people including farmers, fishers, indigenous leaders, cooks, researchers and activists. Many came clutching their endangered seeds, beans, grains, spices and ferments.

The Icelanders brought their traditional dried stockfish to highlight an almost lost tradition stretching back over 1,100 years. The exhibition will travel all over Italy to raise awareness of endangered foods.

We had tastes of traditional food from Taiwan, the Philippines, Azerbaijan, Colombia, Mexico, Nigeria and more. Slow Food is a global, grassroots movement founded in 1986 by Carlo Petrini as a protest when the first McDonald’s in Rome opened near the famous Piazza di Spagna, the Spanish Steps in Rome. It was the end of life as he and his friends knew it, something had to be done!

Now, Slow Food is an international organisation active in over 160 countries promoting local food, traditional cooking and sustainable farming as an alternative to ultra-processed foods and fast-paced modern life. There is also Slow Fashion and Slow Travel, a mindful approach to clothing and travel that encourages the same ethos of Good, Clean, and Fair including paying a fair price to the producers and the workers.

Slow Food protects biodiversity, safeguards traditional recipes from disappearing, supports local economies and encourages people to buy from small farmers, producers, local markets and artisans.

It also promotes education, teaches people where their food comes from and how our daily food choices impact the planet. What’s not to like about that philosophy!

Before covid, Slow Food was very active in Ireland with 12 convivia (chapters), but the pandemic disrupted the flow, and it has taken time to recover its mojo.

Slow Food East Cork based here at the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry holds regular events. The last one was a screening of the Nut Farmers of Glastonbury. The next, on Wednesday, December 2, is a Beginner’s Guide to Biodynamic Farming with Joe Prendergast. Keep an eye on social media for details @ballymaloecookeryschool Check out slowfood.com for details of how to be part of the Slow Food Movement. Here’s a little taste of Turin to recreate at home.

Anchovies Crostini

recipe by:Darina Allen

This simple little anchovy bite, which I enjoyed at Antiche Sere in Turin, is much more than the sum of its parts. A perfect starter or irresistible bite with a glass of crisp white wine.

Servings

6

Course

 Starter

Ingredients

• 3 slices of best white bread (could be sourdough)

• 24 anchovies

• freshly cracked black pepper

• For the whipped butter

• 120g butter, softened

• 3 tbsp whole milk

Method

1. First make the whipped butter, put the soft butter into a bowl, whip it for 1-2 minutes with a handheld beater.

2. Add the milk, whisk it slowly at first, then increase to high speed for 3-4 minutes until it turns pale and light and fluffy and has the texture of whipped cream.

3. Just before serving, toast the bread on both sides, cut into rectangles approx. 8cm long x 4cm wide.

4. Pipe a little riff of whipped butter along the centre, top with 2 anchovies and sprinkle with freshly cracked pepper or ground coffee as at Antiche Sere – a surprise but delicious.

We ate several versions of this next dish, one included candied capers, another at Café Stratta in Piazza San Carlo included crystallised kumquats. Very thin slices of cooked pork fillet or chicken breast are also delicious with this tonnata sauce.

Vitello Tonnata Salad

recipe by:Darina Allen

A much-loved starter in Piedmont, some chefs ‘posh’ it up with various garnish. This is the basic, unadulterated version and is delicious.

Servings

8

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 24 thin slices of cooked rosé veal

• For the tonnata sauce

• 4 rounded tbsp homemade mayonnaise

• 75g canned tuna in oil and 2 tbsp of the oil

• 2 anchovies, chopped

• 1 dsp of best capers

• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

• freshly ground black pepper

• To serve

• 24 capers

Method

1. First make the tonnata sauce.

2. Put the mayonnaise into a food processor with the tuna, oil, anchovies, capers, lemon juice and freshly ground black pepper.

3. Whizz until smooth, taste and transfer to a bowl.

4. Arrange 3-4 paper-thin slices of veal on each plate. Put a blob of tonnata sauce on top. Sprinkle a few capers on each one.

Bicerin

recipe by:Darina Allen

Bicerin, the famous sweet speciality of Turin, is made from rich hot chocolate and strong espresso, topped with cold whipped cream. Use a glass so you can see all three layers. Add a little caster sugar to the chocolate if you enjoy it a little sweeter.

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• 90g semi-sweet chocolate (62% cocoa or higher), chopped

• 250ml whole milk

• espresso or very strong coffee

• chilled, softly whipped, sweetened cream (add ½ - 1 tbsp icing sugar to 200ml whipped cream)

Method

1. Melt the chopped chocolate in milk over a medium heat. Whisk together.

2. Fill the bottom third of a clear, heat-resistant glass with the warm chocolate mixture.

3. Pour in some espresso or strong coffee - pour it over the back of a spoon, into the glass.

4. Top with a swirl of sweetened, whipped cream – grate a little chocolate over the top, not essential but delicious!

Seasonal Journal

The Irish Whiskey Cookbook

From being a global spirit leader in the 19th century to being nearly decimated in the 20th, Irish whiskey in the 21st century has seen a global resurgence. Like Champagne in France or sherry in Spain, Irish whiskey also has a protected designation of origin.

Super knowledgeable whiskey buff Oisin Davis’s The Irish Whiskey Cookbook: 50 Recipes to Cook, Sip and Savour is a blueprint for a real Irish whiskey dining and drinking experience. All the recipes have been carefully composed to allow the purest styles of Irish whiskey to shine, so that every dish comes alive with each bite.

Worth seeking out.

• Published by Nine Bean Rows.

Georgina Campbell Irish Food & Hospitality Awards 2026

Now in their fourth decade, these are the longest-running awards of their kind in Ireland. Established by the much-loved food and hospitality writer Georgina Campbell, they recognise excellence across the country, with winners selected through independent, year-round assessments by a team of experts who book anonymously and pay their bills like any other guest. Some winner highlights below:

• ireland-guide.com

• Chef of the Year 2026: Wade Murphy of 1826 Adare
• Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year: Ómós, Abbeyleix (it’s all happening in Co. Laois!)
• Innovation Award: Studio by Mark Moriarty
• Irish Bread Award: The Long Dock, Co Clare
• 5-Star Hotel of the Year Award: Lough Eske Castle
• Sustainability Award: The Tan Yard, Co Kerry
• Best Supporter of Irish Food & Drink Producers: The Station House Hotel, Co Meath