March 2020: trauma moves fast, and so do Covid-19 cases. The news bulletins turn red. I have lived through other traumas, but this one is different—it brings a kind of numbness, a fog where thought dissolves. Finally, I call the person who leads some of our solidarity projects, including one very close to my heart.
From that conversation comes the awakening: we cannot, we must not, abandon a regional project planned so carefully and for so long. A course in cooking that brings together sixteen young people from four organizations: Diversabili Fede Luce of Fidenza, Associazione Nazionale genitori soggetti autistici, Il Faro 23 of Salsomaggiore, and Fuori di Teatro of Fidenza.
Chef Daniele from the Magnaghi cooking school in Salsomaggiore embraces the idea immediately. He will teach the course online—something we had not imagined. The original plan was to meet in person at the Tenda, the home base for the Fede e Luce groups in Fidenza, sometime in early April.
With a pinch of salt (imagination), a generous handful of flour (patience), and some yeast, we are ready to begin.
Monday, June 1st: the first of seven weekly online sessions of our Delicacies Course launches. Over shortbread, fresh egg pasta, happy hours, tiramisu, and Nutella panna cotta, faces soften and smiles bloom across this team alive with energy.
Problems arise, but little by little, we solve them.
Stefania, Simona, Guido, Beniamino, and Francesco—the names of the Fede Luce "team," who bring dishes brimming with warmth to the table. The young people from the other associations are no less spirited, bringing their own flair and enthusiasm to every session.
We film, we photograph this mixture coming alive in the home kitchens of these remarkable young people, involving friends, sisters, parents in the work.
In their aprons, and with the desire to create something delicious, they serve not just food but joy itself.
AWAKENING IS SERVED.
