Lucia Hannau. Founder of Turinepi.com
Lucia is the founder of Turinepi.com and she is an authority in all things food in Piemonte, Italy.
I love her energy and passion for my hometown! She grew up and still lives in Turin but she studied and worked as an Italian professor in the Midwest. Savor reading some of the delicious facts she shares about herself and if you are in Turin this July come and meet her at Turin Epicurean Capital 2015, and International Food Lit Event.
A bite About Lucia:
As the daughter of an omnivore mother and a picky-eater father, it took me years to realize I am an empath in the kitchen too. Always considered too finicky,
I started cooking and baking out of the basic need of survival in the Midwest, where I just couldn’t find the foods I was craving for. Food wise, Italy is almost too easy, but outside your home country it is hard to find the exact same flavors and textures you grew up with. In my case, these were a high and soft focaccia, a velvety strawberry and chocolate Bavarois, Carnival fritters and the perfect risotto. By trial-and-error, trusting the memory of my palate and the ingredients I could find. I did my research online, compared recipes and struggled with the conversions, but in the end, I achieved the glorious focaccia of my childhood, the berry bavarois of my name day, the Carnival fritters I now just buy at the baker’s and the most scrumptious risottos. As much as I love focaccia though, I could live of only gelato and in a city like Turin, I would never get tired of trying new flavors.
Lucia’s Favorite Place to Eat in Turin:
Il Vicolo in Via Melchiorre Gioia in Turin. This is a risotto restaurant where they also make amazing crepes. Their menu is seasonal and their portions are humongous, so they introduced the half portions, but even those are huge!
Favorite Cooking Utensil:
My favorite cooking utensils are 2: the whisk and the wooden spoon because I love making crème anglaise, hot chocolate and whipping cream and I need the wooden spoon to stir my magic risottos.
As the daughter of an omnivore mother and a picky-eater father, it took me years to realize I am an empath in the kitchen too. Always considered too finicky,
I started cooking and baking out of the basic need of survival in the Midwest, where I just couldn’t find the foods I was craving for. Food wise, Italy is almost too easy, but outside your home country it is hard to find the exact same flavors and textures you grew up with. In my case, these were a high and soft focaccia, a velvety strawberry and chocolate Bavarois, Carnival fritters and the perfect risotto. By trial-and-error, trusting the memory of my palate and the ingredients I could find. I did my research online, compared recipes and struggled with the conversions, but in the end, I achieved the glorious focaccia of my childhood, the berry bavarois of my name day, the Carnival fritters I now just buy at the baker’s and the most scrumptious risottos. As much as I love focaccia though, I could live of only gelato and in a city like Turin, I would never get tired of trying new flavors.
Il Vicolo in Via Melchiorre Gioia in Turin. This is a risotto restaurant where they also make amazing crepes. Their menu is seasonal and their portions are humongous, so they introduced the half portions, but even those are huge!
Favorite Cooking Utensil:
My favorite cooking utensils are 2: the whisk and the wooden spoon because I love making crème anglaise, hot chocolate and whipping cream and I need the wooden spoon to stir my magic risottos.
My favorite cooking utensils are 2: the whisk and the wooden spoon because I love making crème anglaise, hot chocolate and whipping cream and I need the wooden spoon to stir my magic risottos.
Lucia’s Favorite Places to Shop:
In the US I loved shopping at Trader Joe’s, World Market and Whole foods, each one of those stores has different items that where I lived I couldn’t find: good pesto, European chocolate, tagliatelle, ginger candies, mochis and Loackers. In Turin, besides large department stores where I can find virtually everything, I love El Fromage’ or as we call it at my place: the “twin brothers’ deli shop”. It is a small shop in Via Garibaldi with regional specialties, especially cheeses and lunch meats owned by twin brothers, everything is just superb I also Love Negozio Leggero aka the “on tap shop” . There are many locations in Turin but I normally go to the one in via San Tommaso This is a small chain of shops where everything they sell is organic and on tap, and you can choose how much you want to buy: cereals, teas, wine, EVOO, spices, soap, detergents, farmers’ eggs straight from the country side, candies, chocolate cubes, sugared petals, algae and much more.
In the US I loved shopping at Trader Joe’s, World Market and Whole foods, each one of those stores has different items that where I lived I couldn’t find: good pesto, European chocolate, tagliatelle, ginger candies, mochis and Loackers. In Turin, besides large department stores where I can find virtually everything, I love El Fromage’ or as we call it at my place: the “twin brothers’ deli shop”. It is a small shop in Via Garibaldi with regional specialties, especially cheeses and lunch meats owned by twin brothers, everything is just superb I also Love Negozio Leggero aka the “on tap shop” . There are many locations in Turin but I normally go to the one in via San Tommaso This is a small chain of shops where everything they sell is organic and on tap, and you can choose how much you want to buy: cereals, teas, wine, EVOO, spices, soap, detergents, farmers’ eggs straight from the country side, candies, chocolate cubes, sugared petals, algae and much more.
