I quit my job to study food in Italy. Was it all worth it?

One year later, a reflection on turning my life upside down

I had a nice life before all of this food stuff. I had a good job - not too challenging, but good people, a reasonable salary, and crucially, a visa to live and work in the city I loved (for context, I’m an American citizen who was living in the UK). I was proud of the friend group I’d built in London over the five years I’d been there. I had finally moved into a flat of my own, in a neighborhood that made me feel like I was really in the thick of it all (“it” being natural wine and small plates and the most shamelessly meme’d hipster culture). And I’d just met a cute guy who seemed to be into me, after years of just-okay Hinge first dates. So why would I throw that all away?

The University of Gastronomic Sciences came into my awareness a few years prior, in a daydream-y search for an alternate life path that fulfilled my creative passions in the kitchen. I knew I didn’t want to be a chef - I have huge respect for that work, but I’m not cut out for the backbreaking all-hours lifestyle and I know I don’t have enough dedication to everyday service to give it a shot. With that in mind, I sifted through schools around the world that weren’t so much culinary, but tackled the broader food system as a whole. It turns out, there aren’t many. A few in the US, mainly focused on the environmental impact of food production and consumption, and a couple more scattered around Europe that toe the line between culinary innovation and sustainability research. And then there’s UNISG, this tiny university in Northwest Italy with an unpronounceable acronym but a big reputation as the birthplace of the Slow Food movement. Not a “how-to-cook” school, more like a “how-to-think-about-the-future-of-food” school, housed in an idyllic castle-like campus surrounded by some of the best wine and pasta Italy has to offer. I followed their social media, and it lingered in the back of my mind for a couple of years as a lovely possibility.

This is a personal one, so I’m keeping it just for our community of paid subscribers. Below the paywall I lay out the thought process that finally made me feel ready to take the leap, how I managed the year financially, and whether the reality of food school stacked up to the shiny online image. At the end I answer the question - was it all worth it?