This project is a series of dining experiences designed during the gastronomy laboratory workshop of Bosco Colto, with the aim to explore food as a tool for perception, awareness and connection.
To keep the focus on the experience, each dinner began with a shared ritual intended to clear the mind and bring participants into a state of presence. Guests were invited to wash their hands in a common tank filled with scented water and dry them using a clean white cloth. A simple yet powerful gesture to mark the transition from the working day into a conscious act of eating.
Each dining experience addressed a different theme, but the main goal was the same: to rediscover our senses as genuine instruments for understanding reality. Food became the medium through which sensory abilities were reactivated, inviting participants to connect deeply with each ingredient, to be aware of its texture, smell and taste, and to listen to the stories it carries.
Hands On – Eating with the hands is an ancient practice still present in many cultures around the world. In India, for example, the right hand is considered a pure and powerful organ, that connects body, mind and spirit.
This experience aimed to remove every barrier between the food and the eater. Even if unnoticed, every element affect our perception of food. By focusing on touch, participants were invited to experience food in its most direct form. As Giulia Soldati states: “No one would ever ask us not to look or listen — so why do we ask not to touch, believing we can separate ourselves from this fundamental sense?”
Contamination – When thinking about Sicily, one often imagines fish dishes and seaside restaurants. Yet Sicily is not only coastline. With this experience, we wanted to highlight the dialogue between the two identities of the island: the sea and the hinterland.
We brought the atmosphere of a beach bonfire into the Bosco di Santo Pietro, recreating a night by the sea among the trees. Food was shared around the fire, combining fish preserves with products made from ancient Sicilian grains, symbolizing the encounter between land and sea.
Sacred and Profane – This dinner took place in front of an ancient church and explored the relationship between the sacred and the profane. Throughout history, the world has often been understood as the intersection of these two dimensions: the sacred, associated with gods, immortality and ideas, and the profane, linked to mortality, decay and the earthly.
Food has always played a role in mediating this relationship. In ancient Greece, for example, it was believed that during sacrificial rituals the gods were nourished by the scent of the cooked animal, while humans consumed the meat.
In this experience, sacred and profane coexisted in the same space: smoke and scent evoked the sacred, while the physical pleasure of eating represented the profane.
Clay Shells – According to legend, the technique of cooking in clay originated when a Chinese beggar, after stealing a chicken, wrapped it in lotus leaves and clay to prevent the smell from revealing his hiding place. The result was delicious.
Inspired by this story, we served a low-temperature cooked egg and vegetables baked inside clay shells. The shell became the central symbol of the dinner: a protective layer, much like an eggshell safeguarding an embryo. In the same way, clay protected the ingredients from fire itself.
Fire – What distinguishes human beings from other living creatures is the ability to cook, to manipulate nature through fire and transform food. Cooking becomes a symbol of civilization, and fire its alchemical tool.
Fire is not only a means of transformation, but also a social element. It is around fire that conviviality was born: people gathered to cook, eat and share stories. Throughout all the Bosco Colto experiences, fire was used to restore its deep, ancestral meaning and to explore its many forms of conviviality, both ancient and contemporary.
