It was a clear, sunny March day in Castellina in Chianti: Spring had just sprung, but inside the town’s ancient church, we could see the fog of our breath hanging in the air. As we stepped outside, we saw Laura walking up to meet us. Though we’d met her before, this was a new context: as “students” in one of her cooking classes at a Chianti winery just a few minutes north of town.

Today’s first “lesson” was to meet her at the church and then shop for the day’s ingredients. At the macelleria, we were the only customers in the shop. After we purchased the pork loin and some pancetta for one of the dishes we’d be making, we asked Laura and the butcher about cinghiale—the wild boar found on every menu in Toscana but somehow never found in butcher shops.