Morsels: a picnic banquet in Sicily. CHANTILLY STUDIO RESIDENCY 2017

Morsels: a picnic banquet in Sicily Chantilly residency writing project

presentation at Chantilly Studio, Melbourne, Friday 28 July

I went to Chantilly to give a talk and found myself listening to a story.

I was about to talk about what had kept me busy huddled at a desk as the sun either illuminated the treetops of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens or cast them into shade, and the deciduous trees surrendered their leaves with the coming of winter in Melbourne.

I accompanied Shelah, who went to gather food for the Chantilly lunchtime presentation, and found myself enthralled by her story.  

In the time that Shelah and I walked the corridor from the Studio to the lift, then down Flinders Lane, Degreaves Street and back, I had heard that she too has memories of a place. She told me that when she revisits Peru with her mother, they head straight to the market to get a taste of the delicacies once their fare.

Words cannot describe how food tastes or a herb smells or a dish satisfies; but memory has a way of capturing taste, aroma and sensation. Such memory can restore, enliven and nourish. I learnt this while living on a patch of land in the south-east of Sicily. As a Mediterranean island, Sicily has many names, the best of which is home. It’s a home that is both real and metaphorical because like Ulysses in the epic poem The Odyssey remembering the place of origin is the start of the journey. I have grown to love the land, the seasons, the produce. And, in preparing food and bringing it to the table, I have rediscovered the sense of tradition.

So the writing project is about memory, of which there are three layers: the one of early childhood spent in Sicily, the one on the land in Sicily enjoying a picnic banquet, and the third is the contemporary layer that drives the writing and unites and blends the layers like a Tiramisù, especially if it’s made with the lemons of the lemon grove (my version replaces coffee with squeezed lemon). (Lemon tiramisù, is one of the recipes in the book.)

Childhood places may no longer have a physical location, but they nevertheless have influence over us, especially when seeking comfort. If the experience of childhood is about growing into love, then the food we enjoyed in that time is the food of love; and so what greater pleasure.

The writing has been about piecing together memory, bit by bit like a mosaic.

When I decided to live in the Sicilian countryside a decade ago on a property a stone’s throw from a fourth century Roman Villa, and its mosaic floors, I embarked on a journey that would take me closer to the land, the fruits it produces and the seasons that enliven it.

Since I first set eyes on it, I have been inspired by the mosaic in the Villa of a scene that depicts a picnic. Here’s an excerpt from the book: “I fell in love with the picnic scene, which captured my imagination. The men are sitting on the ground with servants on either side. They are being offered food on a platter.  There is fish on the platter, and what is most probably wine in the jug which one of the servants is proffering. A cloth is strung between two poles to create shade over the men. The scene appears idyllic. Even while out and about in the countryside, and despite the high rank of the men, it shows how important it is to be eating with elegance.”

Here's the mosaic:

What is the book called?

The book is called Morsels: a picnic banquet in Sicily. The concept of morsels like the tiles of a mosaic intrigued me, and I saw it a fitting title. Morsels are after all “small pieces of food”, “ a mouthful”. The word derives from the Latin morsus, which means to bite.

I like to think that a morsel is just the right amount to give you a sense of satisfaction, not too much and not too little. A morsel will keep you alive. It's the right size for picnic food, too. In fact, when you put many pieces together, like the tiles of a mosaic, you get a banquet.

Silvana Tuccio, August 2017

The book, too, is being created in morsels. Stay tuned for the publication.

FOR PUBLISHERS

Full details are available BY CONTACTING me at: silvanatuccio@gmail.com.

Thank you to all the Chantillians. The project was supported by the Chantilly Studio Inc, in Melbourne, which offered a three month residency over the Autumn months in 2017, in which time the book was conceived and written.