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  • Porta Palazzo - Italian Notes

Food Walk through Porta Palazzo in Turin

A Porta Palazzo food walk in Turin stimulates all senses and stirs curiosity as regards different cultures and food customs. 

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Food from Every Corner of the Planet

Porta Palazzo in Turin is considered one of the largest markets in Europe with more than 1.000 mobile stalls spread over an area of 50 000 m2. It is huge. And among the heaps of meats, cheese, cereals, fruit and vegetables, you can find specialties from China, Columbia, Korea, Cameroun and Cuneo. Porta Palazzo is a multiethnic market in the positive sense that produce and habits mix and mingle into new ideas. There is always something to learn from someone.

Porta Palazzo food walk

The teacher this morning was Vittorio Castellani aka Chef Kumale’. A freelance journalist and food entrepreneur who has made it his mission to bridge the gap between different cultures through food. One of his many initiatives are food walks through his homeground in Porta Palazzo and these are not boring.

Marinated Esophagus

Vittorio talks our way through heaps of specially imported Moroccan mint, very old and moving cheese cultures like the Mattonelle pura Capra, mouthwatering salamis with truffle and boar, goose eggs, Chinese pumpkins, acacia flowers for making omelet, pig tails, calf hooves, stomach and lungs, while locals greet him with a ‘Kumalé’ that means ‘how are you’ in the local Turin vernacular.

– In the Western world we only eat 20 percent of the animals slaughtered. Another 20 percent can be processed and sold as food, but the rest is pure waste or byproducts like leather and soap. In terms of mass starvation and environmental sustainability this is a disgrace. We should learn from people in developing countries how to make what we consider as waste edible, he says passing around a plate of marinated esophagus on bruschetta bread.

Porta Palazzo food walk

Vittorio Castellani aka Chef Kumale’ guides us on a tasting walk through Porta Palazzo

The texture is tough and rubbery, but it looks a lot nicer than the intestines offered by the Chinese butcher and less dramatic than the huge knife chopping offal and crunching bones for a line of African customers. Another market shop has specialized in hand minced beef made in the showy Asian way of two knives juggling in the air at the same time and we get a taste of the most exquisite tartar. Other tastings include the local sprumante, olives, bite-sized cheese stuffed patty shells and grissini wrapped with ham from Piedmont and Lardo di Arnad from Val d’Aosta.

Food walk through Porta Palazzo market in Turin - Italian Notes

Some of the stalls in Porta Palazzo have been at the market for more than 100 years.

Overwhelming Hospitality

We also have a chat with the owners of Macelleria Garzena, Calzanegra Olive, Gastronomia Rapetti, Macelleria Pronzato and Macelleria Testa that happens to be the oldest shop in Porta Palazzo with four generations working behind the same counter. The enthusiasm and hospitality is overwhelming, and I end up feeling we have in fact been around the world in something like 8 bites.

Italian Notes was a guest of BITEG and the Piedmont Tourist Board but opinions and mistakes are my own.

More for foodies

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Best Italian street food

Maison Massena’s Cooking school in Turin

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How to buy a sandwich in Italy

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11 replies
  1. Turkey's For Life
    Turkey's For Life says:
    May 28, 2012 at 1:27 pm

    Hmm, well I can see why you called this food walk fabulous in your title. I would have been my absolute element, tasting all of those goodies!!
    Julia

    Reply
  2. Natasha von Geldern
    Natasha von Geldern says:
    May 29, 2012 at 10:38 am

    Wow it sounds mega! I’ve been to Turin for a few hours only but clearly there is much more to experience!

    Reply
  3. Sophie
    Sophie says:
    May 29, 2012 at 9:21 pm

    When I finished uni, I was offered a trainee job in Turin – and have kicked myself time and again for turning it down. Even more reasons…

    Reply
  4. Natalie - Turkish Travel Blog
    Natalie - Turkish Travel Blog says:
    May 30, 2012 at 3:11 am

    Wow – quite disturbing that we only eat 20% of the animals slaughtered. What a big waste!!

    Reply
  5. Laurel
    Laurel says:
    May 30, 2012 at 3:24 pm

    I had no idea that we only eat 20% of animals, that is a disgrace. I love market tours and this looks like an especially good one.

    Reply
  6. Raymond @ Man On The Lam
    Raymond @ Man On The Lam says:
    June 3, 2012 at 4:26 pm

    Ohhh are those cow’s feet I see?? Yummy! :)

    Reply
  7. admin
    admin says:
    June 3, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    They are indeed. I’m glad some of you appreciate the basic, down to earth culinary experiences:)

    Reply
  8. Turtle
    Turtle says:
    June 16, 2012 at 3:55 am

    Ummm… marinated esophagus? I dunno. I’m all for not wasting things but that sounds like it’s taking it a bit too far!!

    Reply
  9. Mary @ Green Global Travel
    Mary @ Green Global Travel says:
    July 22, 2012 at 4:23 am

    Food is a great way to get to know a culture- especially if you can’t travel as often as you like. We have an international farmer’s market near us and I love looking at all of the unfamiliar fruits and vegetables.

    Reply
  10. Doc Wends
    Doc Wends says:
    July 22, 2012 at 4:25 am

    Id wished i can come to visit Turin and experience this. The photos of the food are just awesomely inviting!

    Reply

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. The Beauty of Torino (Turin) | Twelve-toed Traveler says:
    September 25, 2014 at 11:00 pm

    […] Porta Palazzo market- This food market stretches the full length of the piazza and into the large industrial looking building behind. There are so many stalls filled with fruits, vegetables, and spices, you could spend all day wandering the narrow aisles. It is also apparently the largest open-air market in Europe. As the bus past through the piazza in the late afternoon, there were only small trucks left in the otherwise empty square selling fresh San Marzano tomatoes that overflowed from large wooden crates. […]

    Reply

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