The Super Hummus of Cinni
We were in the woods above our house with Boo for a walk. It was spring, May I believe. We were discussing the difficulties of that period, that damned post-Covid period and all the uncertainties that characterized it. The summer season, given the post-emergency situation, did not seem the most promising. During the lockdown, while browsing Instagram, I discovered Cucina Botanica, a young girl who promoted plant-based cooking and was starting to make her way in the world of social media. The year before this discovery, I stopped eating meat for ethical and environmental reasons, so the profile of this girl intrigued me a lot. From there, I experimented with plant-based cooking and was pleasantly surprised.
That day, on the log in the woods, I told my sister about the dishes I tried to make and how good they were. So we came up with the idea of creating a little corner inside the dining room dedicated to vegetarian cooking, not entirely vegan, so as to allow even the most skeptical to try vegetarian food, which unfortunately many underestimate. This corner was not meant to be just a simple vegetarian restaurant, but it had to have a very specific purpose that I will explain later. Initially, we thought of creating a special section at the back of the dining room, bordered by a wooden fence, with parquet flooring, tables made in a certain way, and accessories that would distinguish it. But in hindsight, creating an area as we had envisioned would have involved a certain expense that was better avoided at that time, besides the fact that external guests to the hotel would have had to cross the room and pass in front of Mrs. Maria & Co, who had been staying at our hotel for over 30 years. So Gloria proposed to do it inside her art studio. Initially, it seemed like an absurd idea, given the immense mess that dominated that room. But after reflections and debates, we reached a compromise. After an entire day of tidying and cleaning, the little room took on a completely different appearance, like Cinderella in an evening gown before midnight. We stopped to look at it and it couldn't have been a more fitting location. Dining vegetarian surrounded by colors, pastels, brushes, and an infinity of paintings tied the purpose of that restaurant with Gloria's art.
Returning to the “mission of all this,” we all know nowadays, or we come across reading, how much the earth is suffering because of us, and one of the many reasons is the CO2 emissions from intensive farming due to the enormous consumption of meat and animal products that we make. Therefore, without going into too much detail, the Arte dell'Orto (Art of the Garden) was born precisely with the intention of making a difference by choosing to eat healthy, good, and respectful towards the planet. In addition to having an entirely vegetarian menu, the dishes on which the food is served are entirely handmade by Tuscan, Piacenza, and Polish artisans, which I discovered while browsing the internet.