Vegetarians will hate me. Vegans will be horrified. I will never have again the opportunity to enter their fancy outworldy communities I always admired so much. I am sorry about that, but I have to face the truth: I love meat.
And when my dear friend from Turin came out with an offer to eat raw meat – a traditional delicacy in many places in northern Italy – I frowned at first, but then without much second thinking I accepted and we got on our way.
Maybe it is because of my anaemia – which from time to time turns me into a ravaging bloodthirsty vampire – or maybe it is my firm belief that while travelling you have to taste at least once every local specialty – from the Roman trippa to the Moroccan goat brain – or maybe I just fully trusted my guide who, by the way, shares with me all my principles about food ethics and sustainability, anyway, that sunny day in Turin I let myself be led to these unusual Italian fast food restaurant called Mxx Bun and placed in the very town center.
Mxx BUN is a slow fast food restaurant and allows the customer the decide by himself the pace he wants to eat his meals. Slow-fast… just the right speed, isn’t it?
The original name of this restaurant was Mac Bun, which in the local dialect means “how nice”. But ‘ol Mac Donald decided they could not use a name similar to theirs and therefore the stars arrived to settle the dispute. Afraid by some competition, old clown?
These are the principles at the core of this “hamburgheria”: healthy and tasty products, preference given to local ingredients (short production chain), recyclable or fully biodegradable materials, respect for people and environment, consideration for the client’s pace.
Substantially, it is a new way to farm and to breed, and a new way to relate to the food. So once I tested the restaurant’s ethics and integrity… what delicious food was there to eat?
We went for raw meat – it had to be tasted by the stranger… that means me, a Roman girl! – and a selection of local cheese (I highly recommend the robiola with dried tomatoes!), but much more was on the menu written on the blackboard behind the counter, including the usual hamburgers but with a Piedmontese touch.
All sauces are handmade and the chips aren’t frozen or pre-cooked, but fresh, cut as small circles and cooked in olive oil – fresh oil, not the kind left there for weeks and months. Hence Mxx BUN got by any means my full approval!
After a degree in Cultural Studies and a Master’s in Responsible Tourism I should have become a Tourist Operator, but something went wrong… I found out I am only happy when I can pack my stuff in a backpack and leave for another journey!
love the subtle humor! a delicious post.