| Newsletter March 2009
Italy, Lazio: The South Pontino local gourmet guide
Topic : Gastronomy - Wines
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Italy, Lazio: The South Pontino local gourmet guide
1. Italians and food
How much local food can tell about a people, a territory and its heritage and history?
Every territory offers things that nature gave it and shows its history written by the people. People of each country show their cultural heritage in different ways and food and culinary traditions is one of them. For this area of southern Lazio, less than 100 Km south of Rome, it is very challenging to review and reduce to a single cultural identity the complexity of the local cuisine.
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In Italy, the influence of local history, heritage, the land and its different geography, climate and ingredients available all play a crucial role manifesting in the
regional and local cuisine .
In southern Lazio, different cooking styles were introduced from different cultures that characterize and shaped the complex local cuisine. Hence, in our gastronomic journey let’s start considering the cultural factors that make the South Pontino gastronomy very different but very Italian at the same time.
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In the South Pontino, as in other parts of Italy, as a matter of fact, most human interaction look as if, in one way or another, is directly connected with the sacred ritual of
eating and drinking well .
Since the early age the Italians and their food are engaged in what seems to be a forever love. It is difficult to say where the Italians’ strong love and culture for eating well began, but it may well arise when people are in their childhood: at some point, someone in the family will offer you a first sip of wine while you are observing your grandmother stirring the cult ragu’ sauce (a meat- and tomato-based pasta sauce for lasagne and tagliatelle) which she started simmering at 5 am in the morning.
Cooking the ragu’ takes a few hours and, by 9 am, a mouth-watering smell fills the air of the entire house. Just the smell of this sauce cooking is enough to give people the wildest hunger pains. Then by 11 am your grandmother rewards you for ‘behaving well’ with an anticipation of the feast that will follow at lunch time: a piece of fragrant home made bread dipped in the sauce while you are watching your mum and unties rolling out homemade pasta for the Sunday’s family reunion.
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Photos of annual gastronomic and cultural event ‘Le Vie di Gaeta’ in Gaeta (with family and house wife cooking traditional local dishes)
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In Italy, preparing and eating together the “pranzo domenicale” (Sundays’ lunch) with family or friends is an essential habit and traditionally almost as important as going to church or to school. On those Sundays, everyone should be prepared to spend at least three or four hours at the table taking pleasure in talking, commenting and tasting on each delicacy and dish until reaching to a point of an agonizing fulfillment where the stomach says to you: “that’s it! Nothing else can fit in now!” This is why Italians who live abroad may have few problems with the endurance and capacity of their stomach when returning in their home country for family holidays.
Even when your eyes are talking for your stomach (saying “ please, I can’t go on”) an Italian grandmother, mother or untie will always keep on topping off your plate with an extra portion. Somehow, Italians seem to have an issue with empty plates and in Italy when it comes to food, people just don’t accept no for an answer. A refusal to more food or drink may be considered almost rude as you are insulting the cook. Fortunately, most of the times the acceptance of an extra portion is not that hard. This is due to the fact that the food is always marvelous and to the shortage of bad cooks in Italy. Other times, it’s your own stomach to betray you and the simple temptation of having another portion on your plate is well beyond any person’s exercise in self-control. This is why an austere diet before any trip to Italy is definitely recommended, especially if you are visiting friends or relatives.
 Click Here to see the Photos of the Newsletter
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Cultivated land in the countryside near the Circeo Promontory and Sabaudia | |
Italy, Lazio: The South Pontino local gourmet guide
2. Organic & fresh ingredients
Italians here have their own approach to keep a balanced lifestyle even in times when the economy is not so strong. Their secret is simply enjoying the good things life has to offer and that are quickly fading away in today’s fast and frenzied modern culture: that means time spent with family and in company of friends, sunshine and, last but not least, good healthy food.
These days, many modern consumers have few alternatives to shopping for food in large supermarkets chains. In many large urban areas around the western world people shop weekly rather than daily with loads of semi-frozen and microwavable food.
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Have you ever wondered why fruit and vegetables bought in supermarkets often seems to last no more than few days in your fridge before ending up in the rubbish bin? Or why most of the times supermarket’s produce seem to be rather tasteless?
The answer is simple: in supermarket chains fruit and vegetables are purchased in bulk at the beginning of their natural ripening process so that they can last longer whilst production and transport costs are cut down. Next all produce is stored at very low temperatures when is not fully ripened yet and kept almost frozen so that it can be stored for longer before appearing on the large chains’ shelves. Supermarket chains are the kingdom of frozen food and ready meals.
Consumers are certainly missing out on taste, quality, variety and, last but not least, freshness due to cost cutting strategies (what a surprise). Also supermarket chains outsource their stuff from standardised industrial farming which reaches consumers passing through the wholesalers. Hence, the way from the producing source to our tables is usually a very long one. On contrary and regardless of the tourism on its coast, the South Pontino is still a very much rural area and the way food is produced and sold still reveals the bucolic heritage of the territory.
In truth, in South Pontino, as in most of southern Italy, one of the underlying secrets of Italian food lies in the freshness of all the ingredients. All is always so mouth-watering because most all of the key ingredients are purchased in the same day and prepared or cooked according to tradition. The way food reaches the table is also much more direct and straightforward. Most of fruit and vegetables are so fresh that last for weeks in your fridge. Little stalls are in every corner of towns and villages and the south of Italy is well-known for its healthy Mediterranean diet: vegetables, fruit, fish and seafood are at the heart of this diet.
A large amount of fruit and vegetables grown in Italy for export are produced in this part of Italy. This area of southern Lazio is renowned for the quality of its fruit and vegetables. Many, long days of sunshine help the vegetables grown locally to be full of flavour. Vegetables gardens are found all over the coast between Minturno and San Felice Circeo with the green houses in the other countryside areas of southern Lazio. Indeed, in the town of Fondi, near the
homonymous lake
between the Ausoni and
Aurunci Mountains ,
there is one of the largest wholesale fruit and vegetables markets in Europe.
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Italy, Lazio: The South Pontino local gourmet guide
3. Local weekly markets
The outdoor markets are still a living tradition here in the towns and villages of southern Lazio. Moreover, the many local butchers, bakeries, fruit and vegetables stalls on the corner of many streets transform every day’s food shopping experience in a real enjoyable surprise. Every town and village has its weekly market keeping a millenary tradition and everything is sold when is still fresh. These markets are not frequented by tourists but only by the locals and shopping in these weekly markets is a truly authentic Italian experience. In Gaeta and all the other towns of South Pontino the town’s market takes place once a week.
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In each market there is a part dedicated to food and one to almost anything else.
These markets in Southern Italy offer great quality vegetable stalls at great price: dozens of different types of multicoloured local apples and pears, big fat round aubergines, juicy plump peaches, sweet summer water melons, fresh mountain figs, huge yellow, red and green and peppers, many different ranges of tomatoes that go on pizza and that make the tasty tomato and basil sauce for pasta taste like heaven. Broccoli di rape (a popular and local variety of broccoli), fresh garlic and onions, wild rucola from the fields, corgettes, green and runner beans, fresh Borlotti beans, many types of green salad and lettuces.
Click Here to see the Photos of the Newsletter
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Stall in the small daily fish market opposite the fishermen port of Gaeta | |
These are all incredibly fresh and grown locally making a real difference in how the food tastes. The freshness and variety of the local produce is something no globalised supermarket chain will ever be able to match. Here quality and taste it’s all that matter and funny shape is not important: what supermarket would sell such irregular but so delicious peppers, corgettes, apples and aubergines today? You will be surprised to know that when you buy at least 5 Euros of fresh produces the market man will offer you (free of charge huge) bounces of same-day, fresh-cut Italian herbs (called gli ‘odori’) such as basil or parsley. Cooking herbs are so abundant that they are given out free of charge providing you make sure remembering to ask for.
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Food is one of the most characteristic aspects of each territory and shows its complexity through the taste, the culture, the nature and the humanity involved in working the land, selling its products and, finally, using them in the local cuisine. Here, in many ways local people still follows the rhythm of the seasons. The sacred tradition of food and wine is still deeply rooted into the daily life. This why is still normal here is still the norm to buy only those fruits and vegetables that are in right season, or even better yet, only products which are fresh from your local garden and from your fruit trees. This is a first journey into the
South Pontino cuisine .
Traditional farming and cultural factors linked to history also have a major influence on the local South Pontino’s gastronomy but this is another chapter of the story which we will explore in our next gastronomic journey in southern Lazio.
Italy, Lazio: The South Pontino local gourmet guide
4. South Pontino weekly town Markets by day
Weekly markets* by day in each town or village in South Pontino, Lazio – Italy
*Most of the South Pontino’s markets open at around 8am until 2pm circa
Monday - weekly markets in South Pontino, Lazio
1 Falvaterra
2 Vallemaio
Tuesday - weekly markets in South Pontino, Lazio
1 Ausonia
2 Castro dei Volsci
3 Latina
4 Lenola
5 Ponza Island (2 days - also Tuesday)
6 Roccagorga
7 S. Felice Circeo
8 Sant’Andrea sul Garigliano
9 SS. Cosma e Daminao (2 days – also Friday)
Wednesday - weekly markets in South Pontino, Lazio
1 Campodimele
2 Gaeta
3 Ponza Island (2 days - also Wednesday)
4 Priverno
5 Roccasecca
6 Sant’Ambrogio sul Garigliano
7 Scauri
Thursday - weekly markets in South Pontino, Lazio
1 Formia
2 Pastena
3 Prossedi
4 Sabaudia
5 San Giorgio a Liri
6 Terracina
Friday - weekly markets in South Pontino, Lazio
1 Itri
2 Coreno Ausonio
3 Monte San Biagio
4 Pontinia
5 Roccasecca dei Volsci
6 SS. Cosma e Daminano (2 days – also Tuesday)
7 Sant’Apollinare
8 Sermoneta (2 days – also Sunday)
9 Vallecorsa
Saturday - weekly markets in South Pontino, Lazio
1 Minturno
2 Sezze
3 Sonnino
4 Sperlonga
Sunday - weekly markets in South Pontino, Lazio
1 Amaseno
2 Castelforte
3 Esperia
4 Fondi
5 Pico
6 Sermoneta (2 days – also Friday)
7 Spigno Saturnia
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