The day of November 7th 2018, started with lots of positive energy and enthusiasm to explore the cheese and olive factory in the beautiful city of Caserta in Campania region of Italy. We had learnt about Mediterranean diet in the class but now it was time to step out and explore them practically. We all were very excited and happy about the visit and at the same time all set to taste the Italian flavours of Cheese and Olive.

The journey started under the guidance of Professor Raffaele Sacchi. We visited the cheese factory in the beginning called “Turillo” located in Francolise, Caserta where Luigi Zacconi, the owner of the factory, explained the specialities of his cheese and the process that undergoes cheese development in the factory. The factory was very small with just 4 to 5 workers producing around 7 to 8 varieties of cheese. At the end, we were offered different varieties of cheese to taste such as scarmorza, lattecotto of buffalo milk and mixed milk (buffalo, cow and ewe), ewe and buffalo milk primosale with pistachios and almond granules, buffalo milk six months ripened provolone ‘ventre di buffala’ along with a special dessert made up of cheese called “sweet lattecotto” aromatized with orange, lemon and almond essential oils which is the speciality of ‘Turillo’ cheese factory.

The next visit on the same day was to the most flavourful olive oil factory called “Badevisco farm” in Sessa Aurunca in Caserta. Our team was led by Franco Casetta, the owner of the factory. This factory is run by Franco and his wife using the old artisanal method of olive oil production. The factory is recognized as the best olive oil producers’ in the Campania region of Italy. We had an opportunity to taste olives and olive oil after the visit to the factory. We all were amazingly surprised by the taste of these olives. They tasted so great and amazing. We also tasted olive oil with bread and some squeezed green olives in extra-virgin olive oil, oregano, fennel seeds and red chili pepper. They tasted really great and we enjoyed them a lot.

The trip ended with great learning experience and knowledge about Mediterranean diet subject. The takeaway was immensely inspiring, informative, educational and enriching with answering our curiosities. We all enjoyed the visit as we discovered a lot of new stuff which is certainly going to help us in future.