Leading British newspaper The Independent recently ran a feature on its website highlighting Puglia’s merits as perhaps the best destination for a food-centric vacation in Italy.
In the lengthy article, posted in the newspaper’s Travel section, one of The Independent’s staff writers headed to Puglia and gave his personal impressions of the range of delicacies a foodie on vacation in Italy may find in that region.
As the Italian province that produces the highest volumes of olive oil, it would not be a stretch to imagine that most of the region’s main dishes revolve around this particular ingredient. However, olive oil is not the only secret to Puglian cuisine, being only one of the many staples of Mediterranean cuisine the region uses to create its mouth-watering local specialities.
In what can be considered a sort of blueprint for all Mediterranean cuisine, Puglia’s main regional dishes make liberal use of what is known in Italy as ‘cucina povera’, or ‘poor man’s cooking’. This is a style of cooking that derives from peasant culinary traditions and revolves around affordable, easy-to-acquire ingredients such as pasta (the staple of Italian cuisine), vegetables (often locally grown), seafood, and the aforementioned olive oil. It is the combination of some or all of these simple ingredients that brings about the exquisite delicacies one can taste in Puglia.
Some of the region’s other claims to fame include mozzarella — still one of Puglia’s most famous and popular exports — and, of course, wine, one of the main exports of Italy as a whole.
To become better acquainted with these delicacies, tourists on vacation in Italy and visiting Puglia can embark in one of any number of food tours of the region, offered by both local and international operators. Typically thorough, these dedicated holidays can enable foreigners to become acquainted with typical Pugliese gastronomy one town at a time, and will no doubt interest ‘foodies’ on vacation in Italy.
About Essential Italy:
Essential Italy provides affordable, good-quality, authentically Italian villa, hotel or apartment accommodation in Puglia, Sardinia, Tuscany, Umbria, Sicily, and the Amalfi Coast. Contact them at http://www.essentialitaly.co.uk/ .
Contact Details:
12 George Street
Cambridge, CB4 1AJ
United Kingdom
+44(0)1223 460100
[email protected]
