The University of Food: UniSG
Imagine going to a university where daily meals are prepared by michelin-starred chefs and whole laboratories are dedicated to the proper tasting procedures of food and wine. Where every class is focused on some aspect of the food system, and where trips around the world to discover new cuisines are a mandatory part of the curriculum.
For the students of the University of Gastronomic Sciences (UniSG) in Pollenzo, Italy, this is their reality.
When I first heard of the university, I was skeptical about its legitimacy. It is a very new establishment, having been founded by the head of the Slow Food movement in 2004 to create a new generation of gastronomes who are equipped to face the food-related problems of the modern day, and to carry on the art of making various specialties that are facing extinction. So this June, I visited UniSG to see if it is really all that it seemed to be from its website.
I am extremely pleased to say, yes, this university is actually legit. When I first arrived, I was struck by the beauty of the campus. Classes are located in a renovated castle-like structure that was on the farmland of a king. I was given a personal tour of the campus and was able to speak to the career office and to several professors. Everyone was passionate about their work and they treated me like an honored guest.
I learned that 88.5% of graduates from the university find work easily within a year after graduation, in jobs ranging from food science to artigianal production.
I also had the opportunity to eat in their dining hall at the Tavole Accademiche, or Academic Tables, where famous chefs come in to cook the daily meal for the students and then talk to them about their experience in the restaurant business. I goes without saying that the food was spectacular, infinitely better than Penn Dining. I was seriously tempted to transfer right then and there over that plate of pasta.
Want to learn more about it? visit http://www.unisg.it/en
-Writing and photos by Elena Crouch
visit my blog at www.lasbobbasiciliana.blogspot.com!