"Home Food Program" anyone?
 

Has anyone participated in the "Home Food Program" while visiting Italy? My wife and I are looking into it for our trip this May and would welcome any opinions and/or comments.

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Hello ssbnorman, is this the program where you make reservations and pay to have a reception and dinner at an Italian residence? If so just a couple of weeks ago there was a trip report by a Fodorite who participated in this but unfortunatly I don't remember his screen name. It sounded quite interesting. Maybe someone else here can direct you to the trip report.

I went onto Google, here is one website which should help you
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/travel/home-cooked-meals.asp

Yes, that is exactly what I am talking about. I saw a brief piece on it on the Travel Channel and it looked like something we would enjoy. This will be our 4th trip to Italy. The main thing we like about Italy is the food, wine and people. This sounds like the ultimate way to get the best of all those. Any more info will be appreciated. By the way, they have a website at homefood.it.

There was an article about this program in Gourmet magazine last year, and a report on www.chowhound.com by someone who had participated. You might trying searching the CH site under "International" and under "Italy."

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I am not familiar with this program, but as a "veteran" of numerous homestays while attending language classes in Europe, I can tell you that I know of nothing that forges friendships like a kitchen. Should yo have the opportunity to dine with a family, help with the meal or wash the dishes, take it. It will be an experience to remember and there are nothing but kindred souls in the kitchen.

Here is a trip report by SusanP where she did something of this sort:


http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34922204

It sounded like a wonderful experience.

I had the pleasure of dining at the apartment of one of the cesarinas in Rome in September. Before I go into details, however, let me summarize by saying that you should definitely partake of the HomeFood program if it is convenient to your travels. As to the language issue, in looking through the postings elsewhere on this site, I am always amazed that some of the people are amazed that some of the local folks do not speak English; after all, it is their country. Many of the attendee are American, some of whom speak Italian so I would not let that be a barrier. After all, many think food is one of the international languages, anyway.

On to the details. The responsiveness of the HomeFood office is excellent. They are prompt in returning e-mails and you can clearly see where the houses are located and the menus. You have to sign a small contract that basically says that you will behave like an adult, including such provisions as no smoking and being prompt for your dinner.

We received the address and menu before our departure. The apartment in Rome was on the fashionable Via Condotti and the building had a lift. As most Italians do not throw anything away, the apartment was filled with family artifacts and antiques, including old furniture, armoirs, and Persian rugs that had my wife drooling. The walls were covered from top to bottom with artwork from the cesarina's mother. Apparently she didn't want to sell any, given the number of pieces. The host and his cesarina were more than accomodating and friendly. If it is important, she spoke only Italian and his English was about a five on a scale of ten which is about my speed in Italian, so we got along OK. This can apparently vary from site to site, but by this time, most of the hosts are used to dealing with visitors. The other six people (including ourselves) were Americans.

Now to the food. To be honest, it was just OK. Not inedible, but just OK. I don't want this to sound like an indictment of the program as I would definitely do it again, but this particular dinner was nothing to write home about. We had a torta of ricotta and chard that was clearly store- bought, chick peas with pasta that was was well near flavorless, chicken with bell peppers that no zip to it at all, and a chocolate cake tht was over done and dry. The wine, of one type only, was a not-great Frascati served from a pitcher, indicating that its former home was a box.

I wrote to the HomeFood office to render my opinions and they were more than accomodating in offering a make-good dinner sometime in the future.

As I said at the outset, I would defintitely do it again, I certainly support the goals of the organization, and would recommend the experience to anyone traveling to Italy.

Has anyone else had a better experience (foodwise) with this? Just signed up for a dinner for our trip next month and was really disappointed to hear that the food wasn't good on Pendolini's dinner.