Sitting under the Tuscan sun in the garden of a beautiful villa in Monteroni d’Arbia, a small town in the southern region of Siena, Italy, I am surrounded by hectares of vast meadows with shades of green that Israel’s landscape palette sorely lacks. The big cities and the stress of dayto- day life are miles away, and I am on a dream vacation. Except that it is real.Across from me sits Avicam Gitlin, a 32-year-old chef from Modi’in, owner of Kosher Culinary Adventures specializing in packaged tours for the independent traveler. This is Gitlin’s sixth organized trip to Tuscany. Born in Israel and raised in Orlando, Florida, Gitlin’s past trips here have transformed him into a native of the land. “Before I choose a location, I like to scout the area first, meet the people and learn about the culture – an imperative ingredient when I cook for my guests,” he says.The structure of Gitlin’s trips is actually quite simple, or simply delicious, you might say. Gitlin chooses the most beautiful and tour-friendly destinations on the map, and then scouts the area to find a villa where he can take over the kitchen and kasher it. He strolls through the local market in search of the right ingredients and makes connections with the local kosher butcher and rabbi, to ensure that he will have meat and chicken available for his guests.However, Gitlin’s tour is not like other organized tours. “I do not organize the tours for my guests. There is no wake-up call or itinerary. I am happy to recommend important and enjoyable sites in the area, but I make it very clear to my guests that the only mandatory part of the trip is that they eat!” It was love at first taste for Gitlin, who at a young age would help his mother a lot in the kitchen. “My mother taught me mainly Iraqi cuisine, but also the pleasure of diversity in cooking.My grandfather owned a luncheonette in Manhattan, and his grandparents had an inn in Romania. So the love of hospitality and food is embedded in the Gitlin blood.”But Gitlin’s first job in the kitchen was not a typical place for a religious chef to learn to love food. “When I was 15, I had my first job in a breakfast restaurant where I worked as a dishwasher.I really enjoyed the kitchen experience and observing the chefs turning food into art. One day, I asked the manager if I could cook, and he made a deal with me. He said, ‘After you are done washing all the dishes you can line the pans with bacon.’ Feeling like Cinderella, I finished washing all the dishes, and then I lined 50 pans of bacon and put them in the fridge. And that was my first experience. Though it was a simple task, I felt like I was cooking!” This passion for food followed Gitlin when he moved to Israel at age 22. He served in the army and graduated from Bar-Ilan University with a degree in political science.Then he opened his own telemarketing company, working with educational programs in Israel.But, while Gitlin liked his work, his passion was always reserved for his guests. Acting as host is as important as the food he serves.“I would often host people from abroad in my home and share Israeli culture with them, take them to the shuk and introduce them to restaurants I love.“Eventually I decided to quit my job in telemarketing. I closed my company and told my friends and family that I was going to culinary school.”While he thought his friends and family might be critical of his choice to leave a secure business to pursue his passion, their main response was, “What took you so long?” So in 2009, Gitlin enrolled in the Tadmor School of Culinary Arts and Hotel Management in Herzliya, and soon became a chef. The diploma was simply an official document for a trade he had already mastered.“One of the requirements in Tadmor is to learn French, and I took this very seriously,” he says. While working in the restaurant, he would read French cookbooks and study recipes until he understood everything. Foreign languages come easily to Gitlin – a gift that comes in handy when he travels.His first trip to Italy was initiated by a friend, who suggested that they fly in with another group of friends and have him cook for them. “It was great; it made me realize that I can do this for groups and maybe create a business from this.” While traveling Gitlin is limited by the agriculture and produce of the season, and by kashrut laws. Gitlin does not see this as an obstacle, but rather as a challenge. “I take the best ingredients I can get and turn them into the best food I can make.”Although he does not prepare a full menu in advance, the only thing he pre-orders is the meat, chicken and veal. And there is only one ingredient he brings from Israel – tehina. “Everyone has their weakness,” he says.While Gitlin is inspired by Tuscany, he doesn’t stick to traditional Tuscan recipes, but rather sticks to the region’s spirit. “If you are too extreme in sticking to Tuscan-style cooking, you get stagnant and it shows in your food. You lose your creativity. Instead, you need to incorporate the lifestyle here, which means living off the land and eating whatever is available. For instance, if there is no basil, then I can’t use it. I see what is fresh, and based on what is available in the market, that’s what I use to cook.“The food you make is often a reflection of your life experiences.The markets you’ve visited, the countries you’ve traveled through and the songs you’ve heard all become your ingredients. If I’m listening to mellow music, the food will mirror my mood. The food is affected by the tempo and the beat.”BREAKFAST AND dinner are served at the villa. Breakfast is a combination of nutritious and scrumptious. The guests wake up to the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, and walk into the kitchen to find a vibrant spread on the dining room table. Besides the fresh fruit, juice, freshly baked bread and various cheeses, Gitlin and his sous-chef Bracha Arnold – who adds some sweetness and spice of her own to the atmosphere – greet their guests with a delicious meal that varies from pan-crépes with homemade hazelnut sauce to tarts with roasted apples and mascarpone cheese.But there is one breakfast in particular that makes an indelible mark. One morning, Gitlin prepares an English fry-up for his guests. If English muffins with a spread of butter and jam come to mind – you are completely off. We sit down to a plate of kosher prosciutto and potatoes, sauted in onions and garlic. A sunny-sideup egg covers the gravied potatoes. The gravy is made from a thick roux, white wine and stock, one of Gitlin’s powerful weapons in the kitchen. This innovative meal is served with a fresh green salad, and was one of my personal favorites.“I like to create a certain balance with my meals,” says Gitlin.“I want my guests to be comfortable with the meals I prepare, but they are also coming for a culinary experience and, as their chef, it is my responsibility to make sure they feel like they are trying something new.”It is difficult to explain the shock of delight to my tastebuds, and it will be even harder to go back to eating cereal for breakfast when I get back to the real world.For lunch, Gitlin prepares fantastic picnic baskets for guests to take along on their day trip. The contents vary from cheese platters with fresh, home-baked Tuscan bread, to pastrami sandwiches, to feta cheese salads with antipasti. There are also bottles of water and fresh fruit from the market in the coolers.The dinners in the villa are spectacular, and to be honest, I spend a lot of time during the course of each day wondering what they will serve. The dinner consists of three courses, antipasti, preemie and a main course. Oh, and wine. And then some more wine.With each meal’s diverse recipes and dishes, Gitlin wines and dines us like kings. One night, we are served a steak so amazing, it tastes like butter. Another night, Gitlin announces that he will be making ravioli and invites interested guests to join him in the preparations. After the pasta is made from scratch we learn the art of making ravioli and are surprised by what he uses. Besides traditional mushroom stuffing, Gitlin puts in quail eggs. He promised us an experience, he delivered an experience. Needless to say, they are unusually delightful. I don’t know if I would make it at home, but am grateful to have tried it! On Friday night, the food – already inspired by the Shabbat songs Gitlin was singing in the kitchen all day – is wonderful.This, together with the wine and our neshama yetera (additional soul said to come on Shabbat), leaves us more than satisfied – and we are done for the night.The trips are geared for the independent traveler, who appreciates an anchor of kosher meals throughout the trip. Anyone for whom a planned group itinerary doesn’t work, yet wants to experience the local cuisine would appreciate this kind of tour. Gitlin is glad to help and suggest places in the area, but guests are on their own until they return at night, when they are warmly welcomed with a hot kosher meal and the company of others.Sharon and Jeff Hausdorff, one of the couples on the trip, were looking for an enjoyable way to celebrate their 25th anniversary.“We knew we wanted to travel, but I really did not want to be bothered with the kosher food issue. For me, packing a suitcase full of food and having six available items that I can eat in a foreign country is not my idea of having a good time. On the other hand, I did not want to go on an organized trip, waking up early and having to be busy with a booked itinerary from morning to night.We just wanted to do our own thing.”With the atmosphere of an open kitchen – and open bar – there is an intimate feeling in the villa, and it’s not long before you feel like you are home. You have the option of privacy, but can enjoy the company of the other guests if that is what you prefer.Another family at the villa, the Englanders from New York, found Gitlin’s tour through Google. “When we read about Kosher Culinary Adventures, we thought this would be perfect for us. It is hard to find a place to travel that can offer kosher meals, which is why our family would usually end up vacationing in Eilat. But we wanted to do something special this time, and after some research online, we came across this trip. This is exactly what we wanted.”The small group may consist of people from different walks of life, but mealtimes are full of laughter and chatter – and this is before Gitlin brings out the wine! One night, dinner is followed by a football game. Gitlin is goalie and we are quickly grateful that he cooks better than he plays! GITLIN THEN takes us on the single organized trip during our stay, a visit to his friends, Daniele Della Setta and Maria Pellegrin, who own a kosher organic winery on a beautiful Tuscan property outside of Siena in the Chianti Classico region. When Setta and Pellegrin decided to open a kosher winery, they came from Rome to Tuscany in search of a perfect vineyard.“What motivated me to invest and create a kosher winery was my Jewish heritage,” says Setta. “And it is very disappointing that the kosher wine in Italy is not produced on the same highlevel quality of non-kosher wine. It is difficult and challenging to produce kosher wine, but not impossible. And I wanted to create a balance – one that would not compromise on kosher dietary laws but also not compromise on the high Italian standard.”Most captivating, though, is the history of this property and the unique attachment the Setta family has to it.This is not the first time the Setta family has been on this farm.When the Nazis occupied Italy in the winter of 1943, Tuscan Jews found refuge through the kindness of their Italian neighbors.The Settas, escaping from Florence, found shelter in this very farmhouse owned then by a non-Jewish family. This act of kindness saved their lives. Sixty years later, when Setta showed up by accident, the connection was made and the deal was done.Some would say it’s a small world. Others say it’s a big world with a good manager.The Terra di Setta winery’s vineyards span about 15 hectares (37 acres). At harvest time, the grapes are handpicked. Setta explains that this is one of the hardest challenges in producing kosher wine because the harvest always comes out during September and October, the time of the high holidays. But, together with the local rabbi and modern technology, the couple is able to facilitate some traditional kosher procedures without compromising the high quality of the wine.After a tour and introduction of the vineyard, we descend into the renovated wine cellar. Setta and Pellegrin have prepared a beautiful spread for us, including cheeses and fresh baguettes with Terra di Setta olive oil and tomatoes. We taste their award-winning wines. While Gitlin and Setta argue over which year produced a better wine, we sit back and enjoy the experience of tasting kosher Tuscan wine with the finest kosher cheeses.In conducting research on a certain destination, one finds that most talkbacks and recommendations are about the cuisine. The detailed menus and local delicacies – these are all experiences that the kosher traveler misses out on. Kosher Culinary Adventures fills that void.If you go, please remember to bring back some leftovers.The writer was a guest of Kosher Culinary Adventures. More information at: www.avicamgitlin.com.
