Adventure island

By Navjyoti Dalal

In this new column, Home Is Where The Hearth Is, we shine the spotlight on the immigrant experience. And as a cultural exchange get them to share food recipes they hold dear. We begin the new year with a delightful interaction with Andrea Betti, an Italian techie whose Athlone adventure befits a comic screenplay.

I met Andrea Betti as I was wrapping up interviews for this column before I made my annual India trip. As someone who is anxiety ridden before an impending journey, I had forgotten about the four suitcases waiting for me back home while speaking to Betti on his Ireland experience. The 56-year-old Italian is a perfect ambassador of his homeland -- expressive, quirky, funny, and carrying a bagful of stories. I believe there's no better way to introduce him to the readers than his stories.

Story #1: A Small Town Life

Betti is a well-travelled software professional who moved to Athlone a little over three years ago. But his roots remain in the small town of Recco, on Italy's north-western coastline. The region is called Liguria, with its star city being Genoa, the birthplace of the pesto. "Recco is a very small town of barely 5000 people, where everyone knows everyone. It is so small that in my adolescent years, my mother, in an attempt to shield me from bad influence, took me near a bridge under which a couple of drug addicts assembled every day to do what they do. She told me -- Andrea, look at them, remember them, and avoid them," Betti recounts dramatically. He goes on to share that his picturesque fishing village was very provincial in terms of the people who inhabited it. "The first person of colour I saw was in university, in Genoa. I remember staring at him in awe. It must have been so rude on my part, but I was gobsmacked," he reveals.

Story #2: Finding Shelter in a Church

Before he arrived in Athlone to live, Betti had visited the town on a work trip organised by Ericsson's Italy office. But in October 2021 he was deputed here, it was also the time when he realised the true value of a roof over one's head. "Until two days before I flew down to Ireland I had no idea where I would be staying. As if finding a home wasn't difficult, I found a landlord who wanted to lease out without documentation. But I needed the contract (as proof of residence) to apply for my PPSN," explains Betti. Fortunately for him a colleague introduced him to a resourceful Indian man, who was a devout Christian. Eventually, Betti signed a rental contract with a priest.

"I rented a room in a Church owned property. It was all nice, the people were great, but one had to follow a Christian code, to live in an environment like that. One has to pray a few times a day, attend the Sunday Mass etc. My wife would joke that I was living in a seminary," says Betti. His next habitat had its own issues, but the housing crunch didn't offer him many choices. Betti moved from the hallowed abode to a rented house in Coosan shared with other tenants. "I realised that in being chivalrous to my fellow tenant, a lady, I was the one always cleaning the common areas," laughs Betti. Last July he found a perfect apartment in the centre of the town to call home.

Story #3: An Irish Christmas

Betti spent Christmas 2024 in Italy, with family. And he does not break this tradition, after all he has learned from his 'worst mistake'. "A couple of years ago, I invited my wife and kids to Ireland for Christmas. It was bedecked and lit up since the beginning of December, there were some small scale Christmas markets too. But Christmas day delivered an anticlimax. We were in Dublin, and there was no place to eat a hearty Christmas lunch with family except the hotel restaurant, as most local eateries and markets were closed," recounts Betti.

Families in Italy have a tradition of taking a post-lunch stroll. But letdowns were on a roll that Christmas. "Never have I seen city roads so deserted. I could have lied down on O'Connell Street without the fear of being crushed under a bus. It felt like an apocalyptic town," shares Betti. He is not being stiff-nosed here, it is just that he comes from a culture where festivities (and life in general) are a more felt and lived experience.

"Both Recco and Rapallo (where his family lives) have a stellar display of fireworks on Christmas. People are out on the streets celebrating. Also, the Christmas markets run through January, which adds to a lingering charm," says Betti whose yearning for home is palpable. His life in Ireland has added to his English vocabulary and expression, but many a time while on a call with family he fumbles to pick Italian words. "It is heartbreaking that the first word that comes to mind is English," he says.

Story #4: The Athlone Life

The last three years have been about learning and unlearning for Betti. While he is learning to come to terms with the weather and the Irish accent, he is bowled over by the warmth of the Irish people. "The kindness in people here is a rarity not seen in other parts of the world," says Betti. He is appreciative of the orderly fashion in which people drive here. "They are respectful of road rules, which is remarkable," he says. These habits, he says, are like souvenirs he takes back home. "When I am in Italy, I drive like an Irishman, greeting everyone on the street," says Betti with a smile.

Recipe: Pasta alla Genovese (Pasta with Genovese pesto)

Betti shares an authentic Genovese pesto sauce recipe which is as simple as it is delicious. as in this recipe, one can have it with pasta, or even as a spread for sandwiches.

Ingredients: Serves 2

Basil 70gm (2 packs of fresh basil leaves) Parmesan cheese 50gm Pine nuts 30gm Extra virgin olive oil 70gm

Genovese Pesto uses simple ingredients to make a sauce that lends freshness to pastas, sandwiches, and even salads.

Garlic 2 cloves Salt to taste Your choice of short pasta 400g

Method:

Wash the basil leaves in a colander under cold water. Transfer them to a cloth and pat them dry. Blend the basil with garlic, pine nuts, parmesan, olive oil and salt. Ensure to blend at intervals of 3-4 seconds. This way it won’t heat up too much and maintain the bright colour of the pesto. Adjust the consistency by adding parmesan if the pesto is very liquid, or resort to oil if it is too thick. Pasta: Put water in a large pot to boil. Add coarse salt at first boil then add your choice of short pasta (like penne, fusilli or strozzapreti) into boiling water. Boil it until al dente. Drain the water and plate the pasta with pesto on top.