OCCITANO

How to cook a wolf

The Occitano area covers ski fields and deep valleys which, after the thick snow of winter has melted, reveal alpine meadows bejewelled with flowers and carpeted in thick green pasture. On the Italian side of the Maritime Alps, The Percorsi Occitani (occitan paths) replace the mule tracks of the Valle Maira and instead of being used by mules or humans, are employed to move the gleaming white herds of Piedmont cattle in a particular phenomena called the Transhumance., which literally means ‘crossing ground’ . This annual occurence has recently been added to Unesco’s intangible cultural heritage list and only happens in a couple places in the Maritime Alps - we were lucky enough to see it more than once.

In Italian it’s called pastorizla vagante, a wandering pastoralism, something we could have been accused of as we escaped the heat that lingered in the Langhe and headed up to the Occitan Valleys and cool mountain air. We heard it before we saw it, this ‘crossing ground’ , a melodic yet slightly chaotic chiming of bells. Different pitches, no discernible rhythm yet the oldest rhythm imaginable…cowbells, and so many of them. We turned our heads to see where this beautiful sound was coming from and saw a long stream of white cattle being driven along a narrow pass below us. The cows are taken up in the spring and brought down in September, they spend the summer roaming the valleys and feasting on the pasture, which in turn gives us the beautiful cheeses we find in the Cucina Bianca of the Occitano.

We stopped, transfixed, to watch, standing for several minutues and still seeing no end to the traffic. Nodding to the herdsman and his dogs, I wondered where he would sleep, and what he would eat, how often he could take a break. What happened at night, when the hikers dispersed and there was only the moon and the wolves?

For there are wolves here in the Maritime Alps and the Occitano. They are not fairytale fierce, but shy and darting, small headed and fleet of foot. A handful of them exist here and I longed to see one but never did. I wondered if the herdsman ever saw them. I think about MK Fisher’s ‘How to cook a wolf’ - Fisher suggests providing sustenance requires more than putting food on the table. Its a licence to dream, to savour what we do have instead of regretting what we don’t. ‘How to feed our hungers and nourish our souls, even when fear is in our hearts and the wolf is at the door’ . Luxury can also mean simplicity, out in the wilds, looking for wolves, watching the transhumance with a lump of alpine cheese is luxury yet a simple pleasure.