Food
Our food
My mother is from southern Italy and is a willing and prodigious cook. As a child there was always something cooking and my favourite memories as a teenager involve doing my own things in my room enveloped by the security and comfort of the aromas that were coming from the kitchen announcing that soon it would be ‘ready’ (or “pronto” as she would shout up to me from the bottom of the stairs).
At the end of the summer holidays we would drive back to Britain with a car laden full of all the things that were difficult to find or ludicrously expensive in London in the 70s and 80s. Good pasta (De Cecco), parmesan, wine and lots of olive oil. Vegetables of course wouldn’t last the 3 day trip otherwise my parents would have stuffed the car full of tomatoes, fennel, courgettes and aubergines. We don’t need to do this anymore as all those ingredients are in the shops now. Except for olive oil of course – we bring back our own produce now.
Now that I have my own family, my own cooking is heavily influenced by my mother’s excellent dishes but also by my own experiences growing up in Britain and the local vegetables that are available.
Food in Italy is usually straightforward relying on the combination of few ingredients to deliver flavour and the recipes on our blog reflect that - I like simple, fairly quick recipes that have a just enough ingredients to make them tasty but not so many that you need a cupboard full of jars to get the basic taste.
If you are in the Cilento region, we have ideas for food and local restaurants on our blog, posted as we come across them ourselves.
The Mediterranean Diet
Any talk about food and the Cilento must incorporate Ancel Keys and the Mediterranean or Pioppi Diet. Ancel Keys was an American scientist in the 1960s who discovered that people from areas around the Mediterranean lived longer and had fewer heart problems. He chose Pioppi, a small seaside village just down the coast from Capalia, to conduct a major experiment into the eating habits of the locals. He revealed that this Mediterranean Diet, based on an abundance of vegetables, some fish, pulses, very little meat, some grains and abundant olive oil, was at the root of the good health and longevity of the local population. The Mediterranean diet is not a list of rules but rather a way of eating.
Good food and longevity
The old people of Pollica, Pioppi and other local villages have been shown to live longer and be in better health than their peers in other places and all this (probably) due to their excellent Mediterranean Diet.
Articles, in The Telegraph and The Independent, talked about the numerous 100 year olds in the Cilento. Dr Aseem Malhotra, an NHS trained consultant, has written a book The Pioppi Diet, and is a vocal exponent of eating healthily to keep well.
Recipes
A selection of our recipes below predominantly based on Italian food but not all necessarily traditional or typical. They are rarely complicated to make and are for family, every day eating. Let me know what you think …
