Dear For The Wild Community, 

What memories feel worthy of preservation? What forms of care have nourished you across generations? And, what does it mean to leave sweetness behind for those who come after us ? 

We are here at the final course of Fat of the Land. Dolce (dessert). We offer this moment to reflect on sweetness. In every spoonful, we are contemplating sweetness  and the desire to preserve what nourishes us. Even at this final course, we wonder if this hunger for the romantic past is satiated? 

Through the making of Fat of the Land, we have pondered on how certain tastes and stories linger long after the table has been cleared: recipes carried through generations, fruit picked in season, hands preparing meals in practiced silence, and exchanges that happen while we toast for peace, for good health, and good food. Although sweetness may not arrive in abundance, perhaps it is less about holding onto the past intact, and more about remaining in relationship with what has nourished us, allowing it to continue living differently through us.

Through the seasons, and preservation. Seeds saved for another season. Stories retold before they disappear. Yet preservation is never neutral; with every generation, something is carried forward and something else may quietly fall away. As our landscapes change and traditions are reshaped by speed, displacement, and extraction, we are continuing to wonder what forms of knowledge, and what forms of sweetness, still endure. 

Episode Five: Dolce

“I’d  like to propose a toast to the garden, to this beautiful planet, and to the gardener. You know,  some people have gardens, some people don't. But, they need to have a garden because Grandfather used to say, “We are all a garden in the world." So, I give thanks to the garden and the gardener.” —Carlo Montesanti

And so, we have gathered to the final course in this banquet, Dolce. Dessert. Here at this table, we reflect on inheritance. Returning once more to conversations with Carlo Montesanti, Jessie Jowers, and Arianna Gelpke, this episode lingers on to ask if we can remember landscapes, and if we can do so over a shared meal. What does it mean to grow (food, family, and tradition), in a world that has increasingly been shaped by speed, extraction, automation and touristic ideals? Amidst these changes, what remnants will we be able to conserve? 

In Dolce, we continue our walk at Slow Life Family Farm, moving between memory, archaeology and rituals made at the dinner table and reflect on the legacy of slow food—that it is not a cuisine and, maybe even, not exclusive to the romantic imagings of Italian provincial life. Perhaps, it is about the way we attend to Earth and care for its continuity, asking not what we can take from it, but what we can give in return. We also join Arianna at Corzano e Paterno to discuss the process of "reading the grapes" and the factors that influence wine-making.

This episode contemplates sweetness as something more than a flavour, as a longing for ways of living that keep us in relation to one another and the land which feeds us.

Episode Five: Digestivo

Accompanying each public episode of the Fat of The Land series is a bonus mini episode. A Digestivo… something a little extra to contemplate, to ingest… to digest.

In this Digestivo, Ayana speaks to Francesco and Martina of Podere Casa al Bosco. The siblings are extending their family roots in the mountains of Campania, becoming the fourth generation of farmers in their maternal line. Together, we visit the cheese cave and speak to the romantic nature of holding onto these spaces and traditions, and how it affects the taste of sheep cheese for the maker and consumer.

You can listen to our Digestivos by joining our Patreon community. By joining us on Patreon, you get early access to all five Fat of The Land episodes as well as these exclusive spotlight episodes at the Herbarium level. There are several ways to join our community there and Patreon membership also gives you access to our zines, playlists, archives of extended episodes, and so much more.