Still high on my birthday celebrations filled with lovely surprises, I jumped on a train with destination Mestre on a Monday the other week. I did not know yet what the adventure would be, but I knew I would learn a lot more about food and wine from Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia.

The short press trip was sponsored by
Me.Me. Venezia – Colture & Culture and the regional tourism board of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Arriving in Mestre, many of my fellow writer and blogger friends were there too and our driver took us directly to Me.Me. Venezia – Colture & Culture.

What is Me.Me. Venezia – Colture & Culture then?

Well, as I soon discovered it is an interesting and lovely place in Mestre that I liked the minute I entered. It has a sort of minimalist vibe to it that I enjoy.

Me.Me. Venezia – Colture & Culture is a so-called agro-farming market place, a market or shop that focus on agricultural – food and wine – products from the local territory. However, as the name Colture & Culture indicates, it also has a more cultural touch and a well-defined mission to employ and help socially disadvantaged groups and immigrants. (See more in my live stream at Me.Me. Venezia here.)

Osteria Plip of David Marchiori, the man behind Me.Me. Venezia, is also a part of Me.Me. Venezia – Colture & Culture. In fact, Osteria Plip existed before the market place. Osteria Plip has now turned into more of a restaurant than an easygoing osteria.

We had lunch at Osteria Plip and got to try some of their very yummy starters followed by half a gourmet hamburger that is the flagship dish of Osteria Plip. I say half a hamburger because they are very big and filled with lots of goodies, so after only half a burger, we were all full.

David Marchiori says that even if the gourmet hamburgers by now are out of fashion, they have kept their tradition with these hamburgers because they make them in their own special way. They only use local and fresh products and elaborate and prepare all the ingredients themselves in their kitchen. So, it is really artisanal hamburgers in Osteria Plip-style.

At the lunch, we tasted delicacies such as the starters Falafel filled with squash, codfish rolls, beef tartare with zabaglione mixed with parmesan cheese, and fried pizza with mozzarella di bufala and tomatoes.

Me.Me. Venezia Meets Friuli Venezia Giulia

The main event was the gala dinner in the evening that was organized to inaugurate the collaboration between Me.Me. Venezia and the Tourism Board of Friuli Venezia Giulia and their section Strada del vino e dei sapori. The idea is to introduce Friuli flavours in the form of food, wine and culture in Veneto territory at Me.Me. Venezia.

Carlo Vischi, advisor at H-Farm, made a brief presentation of the evening and then introduced Lucio Gomero, Head of the Tourism Board of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Simone Venturini, town council member responsible for development of the territory and infrastructure in Venice, Emanuele Scarallo, Chef at the 2-star Michelin restaurant Agli Amici a Udine dal 1887, and David Marchiori, Chef at Osteria Plip. They all then talked more about the project and the collaboration.

The Gala Dinner Menu

The gala dinner was prepared by Emanuele Scarallo and David Marchiori together and the yummy food was paired with wines from Friuli Venezia Giulia.

The starter Musetto con tartare di mazzancolle (jumbo shrimps) di laguna e salsa di brovadal was paired with a sparkling Ribolla – Sinefinis Rebolium – from the winery Gradis’ciutta in the Collio.

The first course Ravioli di fromadi frant ed umido di trippa (tripe) was paired with the Agnul, a white Collio wine from Pascolo winery. A blend of Friulano, Pinot bianco, and Sauvignon.

With the main course Guancetta di pezzata rossa biscottata, laccata allo schioppetino con broccolo fiolaro we had a Schioppetino di Prepotto from Colli di Poianis winery in Prepotto.

The icing on the cake was the strudel-like dessert that we could enjoy paired with a wonderful Ramandolo from the winery Dri Roncat in Ramandolo close to Udine.

Enjoy Friuli at Me.Me Venezia…

One day at Me.Me. Venezia in Mestre was a great way to learn more about all the work they do and how they try to favour social awareness and the specialities of the local territory.

For one month you can also learn more about the flavours and treasures of Friuli Venezia Giulia at Me.Me. Venezia – Colture & Culture.

So what are you waiting for?