Attending a Home Food Dinner in Milan

I’ve long wanted to try a Home Food dinner, but during my past trips to Italy it never worked out - I was never in one of the cities hosting a dinner during my time in the country. When planning last month’s trip to Milan, however, I reasoned that with a week in the city there just had to be a Home Food dinner in Milan (or nearby) that we could attend. As luck would have it, there was.

If you’re unfamiliar with Home Food, read my post about the organization (written back when I was salivating over just the idea) for more details, including how to sign up. The gist of it is that Italians who are approved by the people who run Home Food invite strangers into their homes and serve meals which are traditional to that city or region, using seasonal and regional ingredients. The whole thing has sounded brilliant to me since I first heard about it, and I was thrilled to find an event right in Milan during my trip in November.

The Home Food meal I signed the husband I up for in Milan was in the home of a young Italian couple in an historic section of the city a short walk from the Duomo. Nicoletta (the cook) and Nicola (her husband) live in what’s described as an attic apartment, but although the street outside was quite dark their cozy home is nothing like what you’d imagine an attic to be. It’s been completely redone inside, and one whole wall running the length of the apartment is lined with built-in bookshevles. Nicoletta and Nicola are avid travelers, and several guidebooks were pulled from those shelves during dinner.

While both of our hosts speak English, we were still trying to practice our Italian as much as possible, so we spoke Italian during about 90% of the three-hour meal. It turned out that we were the only people who had reserved seats at this particular event, so instead of a big dinner party it felt like an intimate dinner among friends. Nicoletta had prepared a traditional Milanese dish of “oss bus,” or braised veal slices, with a “gremolada” sauce over the top. The sauce consisted of lemon peel, garlic and parsley, and the whole dish was divine. White risotto was served alongside the veal, and although I was plenty full after that first course, there was much more to come.

The second course was listed in our menus (thoughtfully printed up for guests by each host) as a “terrine of vegetables,” and the closest thing I can think of to what it was like would be a vegetable quiche. It was brought to the table in a loaf form and slices were dished up to each of us. It was very eggy, and rich, but not heavy. The dessert for the evening was typical to the time of year - being near Christmas, it incorporated the traditional Christmas bread, panettone, which formed the crust surrounding and holding in the (heavily alcohol-infused) custard in the center.

After the meal (each course of which had been accompanied by a delicious bottle of local wine), we were each served what’s known as a “barbajada” (pronounced like bar-ba-YA-da), which is a shot of espresso mixed with a splash of cream and cocoa, and which dates from the 14th century in Milan.

The meal itself was long, but the evening was made much longer by the fact that we so enjoyed Nicoletta and Nicola’s company, that we talked and talked and talked. Nicoletta told us about the process of becoming a Cesarina, and how the vast majority of the people who go to Home Food dinners are Americans. Nicola and the husband talked politics. We all talked about how much we love to travel, and about the places we’ve been. We ended the night with two new friends in Milan, and very much hope to see them again on a return trip to the city.

Now, I don’t think each Home Food night will end with hugs between guests and hosts, or with the exchanges of email addresses, and I feel extremely lucky that our evening with Nicoletta and Nicola was as magical as it turned out to be. And now, after experiencing a Home Food event, I’m even more excited about doing another one.

For more basic information, see my post about Home Food. Home Food now goes by the name Cesarine (the name its home cooks always went by), and you can browse and book dinners and cooking classes with home cooks all over Italy on the Cesarine website.

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A few notes about going to a Cesarine dinner:

• You book and pay for each dinner or class online on the Cesarine website, and prices are listed for each event.
• It’s stressed throughout the registration process, and bears repeating - it’s very important to respect your hosts by arriving on time and being a good guest. In order to make sure we would arrive on time we left early and found the apartment before taking a moonlit walk around the Duomo. When we headed back, it was right on time and we weren’t stuck making wrong turns or looking at the map.
• Bringing a gift to the host isn’t necessary, and isn’t even listed as a “recommendation” anywhere, but we opted to bring a small gift from home (a jam made from berries only grown in Oregon). If you don’t want to haul something from home with you but don’t want to arrive empty-handed, consider bringing a bouquet of flowers. I think bringing wine to an Italian’s house is too risky, personally, but if you have a good recommendation for a bottle that can also be a nice gift.
• While most Home Food guests come from the United States, and one would assume therefore that most Home Food hosts speak at least a little English, it’s only polite to learn a few phrases and words in Italian. Mastering the art of saying “that’s delicious” in a few different ways is a great place to start!