On the 23rd of February 24, there was a premiere in the PASTAMADRE cooking studio: the first " MEN making PASTA" workshop was launched.
From my own experience, I know how important it is as a man to create spaces where we are 'among yourselves' and where men can socialize and exchange more intimate. "Why not combine this with the preparation of a delicious meal?" I asked myself.
And lo and behold, I was not alone with this idea: the range of age on this evening extended from 16 to 68 years and the range of our topics was just as broad. But before the stimulating conversation at the table, there was the MACCHERONI alla SICILIANA, a classic type of pasta in the tradition of southern Italy. It was a bit of a challenge ..... especially, with a type of durum wheat flour that requires a lot of water and is difficult to work with.
But all participants mastered this challenge with a style. It was great to see how the maccheroni gradually became longer and longer, and how pride and satisfaction with men's own work grew. The idea of a perfect (industrially produced) pasta slowly gave way to the image of a fully crafted maccheroni - every single one as a work of art in itself.
In general, we realized that recipes are the ' curdled' experiences of people who have prepared these dishes before us. If we hold very closely to these recipes; if we 'stick' to them, we won't have any new experiences of our own. If we just start cooking, we will probably have difficulties. If we have learned from the experiences of others, we can add something new.
Our conversations at the final dinner together - we had 'married' our maccheroni with a Neapolitan 'putanesca' sauce, served with a fennel and orange salad - ranged from the question, "Have you ever cooked for a 'first date' to give this moment a very special magic?" to such 'simple' topics as, "How did you actually get into cooking?".
Very few of the men had experience of making fresh pasta by hand - but we learned that one had been baking all his bread rolls and bread himself for over 10 years - from sourdough! Another man said that he prefers to cook at home, at least then he knows that it tastes good.
All in all, it was a successful, intensive and inspiring evening for all the men....... and for me the decision to offer "MEN making PASTA" regularly at PASDTAMADRE from the second half of this year - check the calendar as soon as the new dates are online.
And perhaps there will also be a weekend offer - with fermentation of vegetables, an herb hike and much more as a special offer for men!
With love, Frank