The bergamot is a citrus fruit that is almost exclusively grown in the province of Reggio Calabria and has become an important symbol for this Calabrian province. The bergamot fruit is like an orange, but it has a yellowish-green outer skin and when you cut it open, you’ll find a yellow center. The climate in...Read More
Christmas is a time of year that is just bursting at the seams with traditions and many of them, especially in Calabria, include food. During the Christmas season, Italian kitchens are working overtime to prepare delicious Christmas sweets in abundance. It is next to impossible to experience Christmas in Calabria without seeing or eating these...Read More
The culmination of a year of collaboration with my Calabrian Table Tour partner-in-crime, Tania Pascuzzi (In Italy Tours), paid off last week as we welcomed seven bright-eyed adventurers into our favorite little corner of Italy. I met the group at the airport, along with our handsome guide/interpreter Andrea (who all the ladies tried to squeeze...Read More
Regular readers might have heard about a funky food tour I have been working on for October (see green line above). It’s been a long time in the making and my partner-in-crime, fellow expat in Calabria, friend and cooking class connoisseur, Tania Pascuzzi (In Italy Tours) and I have poured our blood, sweat and tears-or...Read More
I recently purged my list of accepted stumblers over at StumbleUpon and ixnayed three or four self-promoters who had, in less than a month, sent me a combined 100+ articles to “please thumb up.” If you aren’t a stumbler, this might be lost on you, but I mention it today for a reason. With all...Read More
When most people think of Calabrian food, they think of fresh, homemade pasta and super-spicy peppers, however, Calabrian foodies know there is more to love than initially meets the fork. Some of my favorite dishes in Calabria are created with hearty meat, rich cheese, freshly-grown vegetables and legumes and its the marriage of those last...Read More
As I’ve mentioned over the last few weeks, I’m missing my traditional Texas-style Christmas this year and will be celebrating a Calabrian Christmas for the first time since moving to the bel paese. A few years ago I wrote a four-part series on Calabrian Christmas traditions and since I’m most looking forward to Il Cenone...Read More
I started this post last week as part of the “My Favorite Things” series on traditions I love in Southern Italy, but old memories kicked in and well, that post got long. So, last week I told you about my first aperitivo in Calabria and today I’m going to elaborate on the “Aperitivo Experience,” something...Read More
I’ve been running down the list of some of my favorite southern Italian traditions and have covered the long, leisurely lunch and the nightly passeggiata. Today, we’re returning to the table, but before I tell you about this pre-meal, appetite-inducing tradition, I need to go back-five or six years, actually, and tell you about my...Read More
It’s eerily intimate to read about the history, stories and legends of your home, to see in print the cities and towns that are in your backyard and to understand the culture that is unfolding before you in black and white. No, I’m not Calabrese, or even Italian, by heritage, but I couldn’t help but...Read More
