{"id":9344,"date":"2021-11-19T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-19T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.italianlanguagefoundation.org\/?p=9344"},"modified":"2024-02-19T19:52:04","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T00:52:04","slug":"katie-quinn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/katie-quinn\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Katie Quinn, American Author & YouTuber on Life in Southern Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\"\"Written by Clara Vedovelli<\/strong>, a graduating student in Language Education from the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Bologna in foreign languages and literatures. During her masters, she collaborated with the Ca’ Foscari School for International Education and she interned at the Pedagogical University of Cracow as a tutor of Italian. Clara is aspiring to gain hands-on experience in a professional environment outside the classroom, and she is focusing on creating active engagement on the ILF’s social media platforms. Being born in the Italian Alps, Clara enjoys hiking and spending time in nature.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Katie Quinn <\/strong>is an American author<\/strong>, food journalist<\/strong>, YouTuber<\/strong>, podcaster<\/strong>, and host<\/strong> living in Italy and having her best life in Trani, Puglia. Katie\u2019s YouTube channel counts more than 50k subscribers and she is very active on social media (@qkatie) where she posts daily about Italian cuisine. Raised in Ohio, Kate moved to Ney York right after college graduation, and lived there for 10 years before moving to London and then Trani. Quinn is an entertaining and talented storyteller<\/strong> who manages to portray on screen the most peculiar aspects of the Italian culinary traditions and she also talks about cultural differences between Italy and the U.S. Thanks to her cultural and culinary understandings of Italian food, Katie Quinn always provides her community with insightful and informing contents that you can find on her website katie-quinn.com<\/em>.<\/p>

I got the chance to meet Katie Quinn via Zoom and we had a chat about her life in Italy, her passion for food and her books.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

What made you fall in love with Italy and more specifically what made you choose Trani among all the other Italian cities?<\/strong><\/p>

The things are too numerous to just list! I think I was taken by Italy. I was completely enamored \u00a0by this country and by the people, the food, the culture, the history. It all goes hand in hand together, and I was just taken with it all. It\u2019s also maybe important to mention that I have ancestry from Italy so everything that I discovered about this place, I felt like I was discovering more of myself or a part of myself that could be lost, but I didn\u2019t want it to be lost. I wanted to grab onto it. And why Trani? Totally, random\u2026 really! I feel like I lucked out with such an incredible place to live. So, I moved here with the purpose of getting dual citizenship and I was advised to move to Trani to get all those bureaucratic things done. So basically, I just did what I was told, and I lucked out! I\u2019ve been here for almost exactly one year now, it\u2019s crazy how time flies. It\u2019s so beautiful, and I\u2019ve never lived on the water before! I\u2019ve never lived, you know, on the coastline, it\u2019s just incredible. <\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

How has your lifestyle changed since you moved to Italy? Have you noticed any major changes in your everyday life? <\/strong><\/p>

Yes\u2026 hugely! So, when lived in London I would often run a lot of my errands right after lunch because it avoided too many people, a lot of people were still in the office and my schedule was a little bit more flexible. Here, everything shuts down after lunch! So, there\u2019s no time for me to be productive. I often take a little nap after lunch now, and I never used to do that! Oh, and I am more active in the evenings that I ever used to be. I would go out to dinner earlier and I would go to sleep earlier, whereas here everything socially is just pushed a little later. Going out to eat later, and also just the \u201cpiazza\u201d (square), they are so full later to the night especially in the summer. I\u2019ve found a whole new energy after the sun goes down. It\u2019s not necessarily tied directly to partying, as I\u2019ve experienced in other places I\u2019ve lived. But here it\u2019s like I\u2019m up late because this is when people socialize. One last major chance I would say is my consumption of \u201ccaff\u00e8\u201d\u2026 and now I prefer small, sweet breakfasts. That was weird to me when I first moved here! I was like \u201cthat\u2019s too small! I need more for breakfast\u201d and also \u201cwhy are you eating dessert for breakfast?\u201d. That was my thinking, and now everything too savory or too big is too much!<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Would you consider Italy or Trani your home<\/em> now? <\/strong><\/p>

Good question! Short answer\u2026 yes. But being completely honest, it comes with a \u201cfor now\u201d. Yes, it\u2019s home\u2026 for now. My husband and I are happy here, we have our dog, Kiro, and we have friends, we have a community, which is so important to a sens of home. So, maybe the best way to put it is \u201cyes, I have a strong sense of home in Trani\u201d. But to tell you the truth I am not married to Trani. I\u2019m interested in exploring other parts of this peninsula. I\u2019m interested to see where else I can be happy to live, because it\u2019s such an incredible place and there\u2019s such a diversity of things and I am very curious to explore more.<\/em><\/p>

Did you inherit your passion for food from your family or did you discover it later as an adult? <\/strong><\/p>

It\u2019s interesting, my mom is a very good cook. She always worked fulltime, and she always did the best she could to feed us growing up. But she\u2019s a really great cook and I see that more now. Honestly, I think that my passion for food really came into place when I moved to New York City and I was exposed to all of this different food and different cultures behind the food, that I\u2019d never known of before. So, I think it was a fascination that food and culture and sense of discovery could all go hand in hand, that\u2019s what truly drew me to food. There were flavors, tastes and spices that I had never heard of, and that\u2019s what led me down the rabbit hole of loving food. <\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Katie Quinn's latest book can be purchased on her website katie-quinn.com<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\u201cCheese, wine and bread. Discovering the magic of fermentation in England, Italy and France\u201d is your second book. How did you get inspiration for it and why did you focus on fermentation?<\/strong><\/p>

I think that these days a lot of people when they think of fermentation, they think of Kombucha or Kimchi or Sauerkraut. They think about these sorts of things that are well known for being specific fermented food. Of course, those things are fermented and awesome, but so are things that are on our everyday table that we don\u2019t think of as fermented. Coffee, bread, and obviously cheese and wine are all fermented, but I think that probably a lot of people don\u2019t know that they are products of fermentation. So, for me it was connecting the dots. These staples of our life as humans are things human have relied on for so long to sustain and nurture ourselves. I wanted to explore the idea of my \u201ctrinity of fermentation\u201d and what makes those things so timeless, special and, of course, delicious. <\/em><\/p>

In order to write this book, I had to take some classes. I took cheese-making classes, classes about wine and I took bread training classes. I did educate myself in terms of workshops and classes, and I also spent so much time at the library. I really did! I lived in London at the time, and I would spend just full days at the British Library reading and writing. Basically, I would take an experience that I had and write about it, and then I would fill in the gaps, or if there was something curious about it, I would go research about it and fill it in. <\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Regarding your first book \u201cAvocados\u201d, did you choose to write a book about avocados because millennials made avocado toast popular, and you decided to take this opportunity?<\/strong><\/p>

(Laughing) That was exactly the time when avocado toast was everywhere! That was right after I left culinary school and there\u2019s this series of cookbooks called \u201cShort Stack Editions\u201d that I really liked, and it was one ingredient per cookbook. I just thought it was so cute and so cool, and I realized they haven\u2019t done avocado. How is that possible? I love avocados. So basically, I just reached out to the editor and told them that they may have needed an avocado\u2019s cookbook and I could be the person writing that. And then we met, and I gave them some of my avocado dishes and, yeah, I started writing the book. <\/em><\/p>

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Clara Vedovelli, a graduating student in Language Education from the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Bologna in foreign languages…Read More <\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9344"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9344"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9687,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9344\/revisions\/9687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}