Calabrian Food, Going to the Source

“Calabria” has a certain cachet in the food world. From exclusive restaurants down to family chains, “Calabrian” menu items are omnipresent. In fact, when I open the menu of an Italian restaurant outside Italy and I don’t see Calabria mentioned, it’s almost more surprising. Whether all these offerings actually originate in Calabria is another question.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

This year, my Traditions and Food of Calabria Tour sold out quickly. From one year to the next, it’s hard to know which tour will be more popular. Some people have their eye on a particular itinerary for several years and are waiting for the right moment in their personal travel schedule, and others see a tour and enroll immediately. As often is the case, the words “sold out” tend to make an attractive offering even more enticing.

“I want to sign up for the food tour.” My first reaction is that all my tours are food tours. Then I realize the impact of “traditions and food” in black and white. When I hear, “I want to sign up for the cultural tour,” I think, all my tours focus on culture. These fundamental elements serve as the basis for all my itineraries. Of course, the specific towns, restaurants and cultural sites vary from tour to tour.

Food and culture, traditions and castles. And yes, wine. Not to forget the incredible natural landscape. For the traveler, Calabria is rich.

Suddenly, everyone wants in on it, or at least on paper. Big tour companies pass through the region in a day and stop for a quick “Calabrian” meal, and the indiscriminate tourist can tick Calabria off his or her list. Thankfully, discriminating travelers want more.

EXCELLENT CALABRIAN FOOD ON ALL MY TOURS!

Followers of my Calabria: The Other Italy Facebook page or my Karen Haid Instagram page always comment how delicious the food on my tours looks, even on the itineraries without “food” specifically in the title. In fact, on my very first Calabria Cultural Tour, which was my inaugural itinerary, several guests exclaimed how the food on my not-exclusively-a-food-tour was better than dedicated culinary tours they had been on in Tuscany and other better-known Italian locations.

So on this blogpost, I’m featuring a few dishes from my “other” Calabria itineraries. Keep in mind that these are just snapshots, and some of the best meals aren’t pictured due to my fork’s tendency to take a wayward dive into a mouthwatering course before I’ve had a chance to document it.

CALABRIAN VILLAGE RESTAURANTS

We often find ourselves in village restaurants on my tours. Each town is proud of its local cuisine and specialties, which can be quite diverse. For example, Fiumefreddo Bruzio features a beautiful frittata di patate (potato frittata) that is prepared without eggs.

The good citizens of Civita eat a traditional pasta, called dromesat in the Albanian language of this Pollino Mountain village. Here, served with a tomato and sausage sauce.

Driving through the southern Aspromonte Mountains, goats are frequently seen on rocky hillsides. Thus, goat cheese, meat and homemade pasta with goat sauce are historically eaten. Many travelers shy away from goat, lamb, and other less familiar foods. I think it’s important to offer a full spectrum of the cuisine for those who want to have an immersive experience while providing an equally tasty alternative for less-adventurous eaters.

FAMILY, FARM-TO-TABLE, CASUAL AND ELEGANT

At family and farm-to-table restaurants in Calabria, numerous dishes remind my guests of their nonna’s cooking. Sometimes, there will even be a grandmother or mother in the kitchen, preparing as if for a family feast. And then when given the go-ahead, appetizers appear amongst a great whirl of activity, serving plates filling every space on the table.

A few minutes later, more dishes appear. This, too, is a Calabrian experience.

In Calabria, sophisticated tastes come in both casual and elegant settings. We’ve enjoyed the best porcini mushrooms, local meats and cheeses in rural mountain eateries.

We’ve dined with extraordinary views,

At rustic tables,

And artistic venues.

And yes, the food is excellent.

CALABRIAN FOOD AS A MARKETING TOOL

Outside of Calabria, marketers have summed up the cuisine in a characteristic soundbite: the land of spicy food. The “Calabrian summer” specialties of an American chain come to mind. The menu features “hot” dishes never seen in Calabria. In actuality, most Calabrian food is not spicy. The branding simply has to do with the fact that the region produces excellent peperoncino calabrese and ‘nduja, which you can read about on my linked posts. Often, American menu items are more an homage to marketing than to the region in the toe of the Italian boot, in case there’s a reader out there who’s been seeing “Calabria” pop up and hadn’t stopped to google it.

CALABRIAN FOOD, AUTHENTIC APPROACH

You have to eat a lot of Calabrian food to get a handle on the breadth of the cuisine. From the get-go, you’ll understand that it’s excellent, but you’ll realize that it cannot be summed up in one blogpost and certainly not in a spicy summer entrée.

The best way of getting to know Calabrian cuisine is to take a trip and taste it for yourself, not just in the most famous “must-see” spot, but throughout the entire region.

Have I mentioned that I organize highly rated, small-group tours to Calabria, as well as to its northern neighbor Basilicata? The food is outstanding on all of them.

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Enjoy delicious, authentic Calabrian food and wine on one of my small-group Calabria Tours (I have three itineraries) or Lucanian food on my Basilicata Tour of Calabria’s northern neighbor.

Read about the fascinating Calabrian region in my book Calabria: The Other Italy, described by Publisher’s Weekly as “an intoxicating blend of humor, joy, and reverence for this area in Italy’s deep south,” and explore Calabria’s northern neighbor in my book Basilicata: Authentic Italy, “recommended to readers who appreciate all things Italian” by the Library Journal.

Follow me on social media: Basilicata Facebook page, Calabria: The Other Italy’s Facebook page, Karen’s Instagram and Karen’s Twitter for beautiful pictures and information.
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CALABRIA: The Other Italy and BASILICATA: Authentic Italy make great gifts!