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Milkhoneyandrum's interview



Interview by Lydia Interview by Lydia

We interviewed milkhoneyandrum!

Visit the blog: Milk Honey and Rum.


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" The overall purpose of Milk Honey and Rum is to make the Piedmontese recipes easily prepared by anyone anywhere... "



Hello milkhoneyandrum, so tell us...


When did you begin your blog, and what inspired you to start it?


Milk Honey and Rum is online since February 2014, but I've started to work on the idea of writing recipes long before. It happened when I was rethinking my Italian blog Latte Rhum e Miele, started in 2010, to spread my natural home remedies and my "family-lab" on health and wellness.

One of the main activities at that time was checking hypotheses reading scientific researches. In this way, I wanted to verify and test all the alternative medicine, habits and food that could concretely improve the state of health of my family and myself.
What I definitely understood through researches about health is that it lies mainly in the food that we eat and in our happiness. And they are both very tied. Thus, I decided to write not only about alternative medicines and researches, but to concretely put in action what I was reading using healthy foods in my recipes. As “health starts eating” is not an idiom but a well-established reality.

What made you want to appeal to an international audience?


Italians have the fortune to live in a land full of hundreds of traditions and an amazing food culture. The specialties of Piedmont are known and sought after abroad: Piedmontese wines such as Barolo - to name but one - the “gold of Alba”: truffles, chocolate, cheeses, agnolotti (the pasta filled with meat or vegetables), tajarin (a variety of spaghetti or little tagliatelle made with lot of eggs and catted with knife), and the list could goes on. In contrast, the Piedmontese cuisine is much less known and "practiced" abroad. Such a shame since it is a healthy, cheap, full of flavors and very varied. It comes from two great traditions contaminated by influences beyond the Alps: on one side the one by the Court of Savoy, delicious and opulent, on the other hand a peasant, poor and very creative but no less tasty.

Are you involved in the blogging community - how do you attract new readers?


I love to build networks, to share experiences, and to interweave relationships. This makes a “delicious” job a funny one and makes me discover awesome people, foods and knowledge.

When you humanize your presence behind the recipes and the mere contents it is much more easy to be interesting and trustworthy.

I even work closely on SEO, carefully choosing keywords and composing texts, and on social media.

What sets Piemonte's cuisine apart from other italian regions?


Outside of Italy it is common to think that Italian food is pasta and some traditional recipes of central and southern Italy. There are many food blogs created by the grandchildren of immigrants in America, Australia and other parts of the world who publish these kinds of recipes.

But the Italian cuisine is not only this. So why not to convey the recipes of the places where the beloved wines of Piedmont such as Barolo, Nebbiolo, Erbaluce come from. Really unique recipes as Bagna Cauda, Tuna rabbit style (Tonno di coniglio in Italian) or the cup of Savoy .
The Piedmontese cuisine is a full kitchen which provides all the food and nutrients. Healthy when is tasted with the same criteria by which it is born. Meat was reserved for special occasions, however, preferring white meats such as rabbit or freshwater fish. Plenty of vegetables, often enriched by a thousand flavors of the garden. The cuisine of Piedmont has thousands recipes great for vegetarians, and it is full of “fancy dresses”, it's amazing and unique, think about the tuna rabbit or tuna salami.

Moreover, the traditional recipes of Piedmont have born in a time when cooking was made while women were doing other things. Therefore recipes had to be easy to prepare, with quick and few steps and ingredients, and often short time of cooking. It is a very modern cuisine.

What is your earliest food memory?


As a child, I never understood why adults should stay hours cooking and eating, sipping wines and talking about food and wines. I always thought it was a huge waste of time as the beautiful life was outside, among the grass, the toys and, of course, my Dolce Forno, the toy oven made for kids to play.

My Dolce Forno was incredible. I die to have it and it was super. Yes super! But has never baked a tart, nor a cupcake. The point is that it was safe for children and the temperature get never higher enough to cook anything.
I spent hours kneading pastry, preparing biscuits, cleaning up all the flour that I was so good to spread everywhere except on the table. I’ve tried to bake tens of tarts and not one of them never remotely got the faces of a real tart. And the taste? It was simply awful!
I closed my Dolce Forno in its box and definitely decided I was done with cooking.

I was an 8 little girl completely in war with food. All food. Except the chocolate salami of my grandmother. And her apple pie. And the Gnocchi with sage and butter. And…Ok, let's say that it was just a conflict about preparing food.

Not only are you a food blogger but you have a PhD, you're a web content manager, marketer, content marketing pro, social media strategist and startupper! Do you have a favorite role out of the list?


I love to work with contents. Content strategy and content marketing are, in my experience, the most involving and passionate topics I’ve ever applied.

Is there any dish, ingredient or type of food you refuse to cook? Or anything that you refuse to eat?


No. I’m simply a curious omnivore! I love to try recipes from the world. When I’m abroad I think that one of the most amazing thing is to taste the local cuisine. It’s part of the culture and you can understand a lot of a country looking at, sniffing and tasting the typical dishes.

What are your goals for your blog? Where would you like to see it in the next year? Five years?


The overall purpose of Milk Honey and Rum is to make the Piedmontese recipes easily prepared by anyone anywhere, and bring in the everyday life of non Italians the healthy, creative, budget, full of flavor cooking tradition.
To achieve it I need to make Piemonte recipes really feasible for a worldwide home cooking, thus I adapt every recipe. Behind each one there’s a whole world of research and study to let you taste the original flavor that you would love to experience if you be right here. I adapt ingredients, ease procedures and take procedure pictures. These 3 purposes are very important to me.

Each recipe is photographed step by step. I want to make easy to follow my hands, and that in this way anyone can easily reproduce the same gestures and try again the same emotions. I am convinced that good cooking does good. Handling food, savor the scents and live step by step recipe is a critical piece of wellbeing. Be comfortable at the table comes into the kitchen and food cooked with love, you know, nourishes better than one cooked unwillingly. Piemonte recipes with their scents and colors bring joy and fun to recreate, and leave room for personal creativity.

For each “typical” ingredient I look for a solution that will allow to experience the recipe and the flavor everywhere in the world. An easy and friendly alternative. The goal is to bring the flavors and know-how of Piemonte recipes all over the world. Almost every recipe could be prepared with your local food and with raw whole food, that makes the recipes very healthy and feasible.

Each procedure is adapted to be quick and easy, thanks to the use of appliances and of little tricks. This makes it extremely simple and doable by anyone recipes without losing warmth, flavor and tradition.

My worst food flop was...


The very first time I prepared Bagna cauda was a complete flop! I was so proud of my Bagna cauda, spent hours melting garlic, mixing and cooking anchovies and blending it. As soon as bagna cauda was ready I served it but the surprise was awful. An inedible slop lying in the bowl. I remember it smiling, but it was so frustrating! Now my bagna cauda is gorgeous, and I’m asked often to cook it.

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Thank you milkhoneyandrum for answering our questions and see you soon!
Published by Lydia - 08/25/2014



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