Students in the ITAL 370 and SPAN 370 courses on the Slow Food movement, along with the student organization Slow Food on Campus, acknowledged National Pawpaw Fruit Day on Thursday, September 19 by gathering together for a tasting and discussion.

They sampled fresh pawpaws from a local family farm in Brunswick, Ohio and pawpaw bread made for them that morning by Professoressa Caterinacci, talked about the history of North America’s largest native tree fruit, and learned about food’s role in cultural manifestations such as folklore, music, and cinema!

They read articles in Italian and Spanish about the so called “tropical” fruit, with botanical details included, and connected this to Good, Clean, and Fair, the primary reading on the international Slow Food movement written by its Italian founder, Carlo Petrini. Students will also create a short story or dialog to share, inspired by the imaginative short film they also viewed together. The pawpaw is the official state native fruit of…OHIO!