Trying out the 50-foot Diet in Orroli, Sardinia

Imagine eating an entire dinner that all came from within 50 feet from your house. In the US, we pat ourselves on the back for the 100-mile diet, and it's hard to do even that. But tonight we met a family that runs a museum, a farm, and a restaurant in central Sardinia where everything they serve comes from their own land and their own hands.

Agostina Vargiu and his 79-year-old mom plus various staff and other family welcomed us with a glass of fruity white wine served from ceramic pitchers as we walked up the cobblestoned driveway in the town of Orroli, near the middle of this large island. It's called OmuAxiu, and it is a memorable place to spend the night or just a few hours over a long dinner.

We had toured the ancient ruins of the Nuraghi, bronze age towers built by the Phoenicians and decapitated by the Romans, who feared that the strategic turrets would serve someone else's defense needs. These are located on windswept plains with miles of views of distant mountains. Carefully constructed without mortar, we shared this dramatic site with a hoard of about 100 teenagers, who were interested in talking to us about their favorite musicians (Genesis).

The town of Orroli has just 2700 residents, and boasts an amazing 35 citizens over the age of 100. So when we met the matriarch of the Vargiu family, who was celebrating her 79th birthday, we knew she was just getting warmed up. After touring their museum with ancient farm implements, including a Bubba brand tractor from 1918, we parked ourselves in their cellar for the meal. Like so many great foods, it was the simplicity that made it so delicious--roasted eggplant and fennel, redolent of sweet apple, crusty breads and a thinner bread spread with bruschetta, and thin homemade pasta and proscuitto and salamis with their own red wine. We stopped by a little store and bought a uniquely Sardinian pasta called Fregula, little balls that look like giant cous-cous but cook up like pasta. These were also in the farm's pasta course.

Then came the carne, veal chunks and pieces of roasted wild boar. We toasted our host and hostesses when they came out to say hello, and sang happy birthday to the smiling matriarch in Italian. During dinner a woman who's originally from Guyana told us the harrowing details she learned about the only thing people think about when they hear this country's name--the Jonestown massacre of 1979.

There is nothing that I enjoy better than fascinating conversation over delicious food, and the company of those with knowledge to share and curiosity about the world they travel in. A fine night indeed!