Calabria Travels in the 1950s

This excert is Samuel Chamberlain's book on Italian cooking. Remember it was written in the 1950's when Calabria was still recovering from WWII. One of the comments that travelers made about Calabria was the poor quality of the food in hotels and restaurants. The 19th century Baedecker Guide states this opinion and Gissing's book (1897) also echoes this. It is interesting to note that Gissing complained about the bad-tasting butter served in a cheese shell (burrata?). Mention is made of several eggplant dishes, a fresh grape desert and baked figs. Unfortunately there are no recipes provided for these.
Rose Albrizio

DESCRIPTION

Calabria is one of the least-visited regions in Italy, for a variety of reasons. First of all, its historical treasures are meager. Earthquakes have harassed it for centuries, and few of its architectural masterpieces have withstood stood the tremors. Second, its hotel resources are not alluring. [This was written in the 1950's] Third, it is rather forbidding country, in spite of its impressive mountains and extensive coastline, the longest(485
miles) of any Italian region. Most of Calabria is a somewhat savage land, seamed with mountains, gorges, and ravines, capped with lonely bill towns, still-used relics of medieval days. Though there are occasional lakes, the water resources are poor. Immense forests cap the peninsula, but the impoverished farmer often must keep himself warm with fagots.

Earthquakes, the dreaded terremoti, have long plagued Calabria. Reggio di Calabria was completely destroyed in 1908, along with Messina across the channel. Earthquakes still continue, and villages disappear even now, but the courageous inhabitants refuse to give up and they build anew.

The natives of Calabria do not appear to be a happy lot. None of the gaiety of the Neapolitans lights up their faces, which is understandable enough. The poverty of the people is all too apparent. Their lands are not fertile, their water supply is inadequate, their pleasures are few. Threatened by earthqukes, economic distress, and a rude winter climate, it is not surprising that they have grave, troubled faces. It is evident that unemployment is a major problem here, particularly among the young men, though the women all seem to have plenty to do. In spite of these somber facts, Calabria merits a visit for its romantic beauty alone. Travelers who are sensitive to its unworldly charm may remember it more vividly than they do the classic Italian areas. Regardless of his umpromising situation, the native Calabrian is a good farmer, and carries on with tenacity. He manages to grow grapes, oranges, lemons, figs, and almonds on his more productive slopes and in river valleys. Gnarled olive trees have survived for decades on his meager soil, and he has a genius for growing vegetables, particularly his favorite melanzana, or eggplant. Skilled artisans populate Calabrian towns - metalworkers, weavers, tanners, and lacemakers.

The populations of Calabria is a mixed one. This area was once the pride of the Byzantines, who were in turn driven out by the Normans. Traces of them have long since vanished, but the present population shows the ancestry of Albanians and Greeks who fled the Turkish; invasion. The Albanians centered around Catanzaro while the Greeks favored Reggio di Calabria, where you may still observe many classic Grecian profiles.

Native costumes once provided bright spots of color in the Calabrian landscape, but most of them have now disappeared. However, in winter you will still observe groups of country women wearing warm red flannel skirts. If the costumes are few, the animals are as engaging as ever. Mules, donkeys, and a few horses furnish most of the transportations, laden down with baskets and bundles. These patient beasts usually carry a child or two for good measure.

DINING IN CALABRIA

The frugal Calabrian farmer finds a few things in his favor besides his orchards and vegetable gardens. In his back yard are pigs, meaning smoked ham and sausage, and his herds of sheep assure him of further sustenance. If he is a good hunter, the forests will provide him with partridge, quail, venison, and wild boar, and the mountain streams yield handsome trout to a good fisherman. Best of all, his wife is likely to be an excellent cook. She sticks to simple, sturdy, country cooking with few frills, but the experts contend that it ranks with the best in Italy. Unfortunately, the traveler passing through Calabria has only a dim chance of tasting it, unless he is adept at making friends with farmers' wives,, a rather perilous pursuit in this neighborhood.

The eggplant is the most popular vegetable in Calabria, and the housewife prepares it in several different ways. She stuffs it with bread crumbs, parsley, garlic, tomato paste, and cubes of bacon; she cooks it with cheese, and preserves it in jars with mint, garlic, and chopped peppers. Melanzana al funghetto is sliced eggplant sprinkled with chopped garlic, pepper, oregano, and olive oil, and baked in the oven. Most formidable of all is melanzana in agrodolce: the eggplant is sliced, scalded in boiling oil and then cooked in a mixture of sour wine, chocolate,, sugar, cinnamon, pine nuts, raisins, walnuts, and cedar bark. That's exotic enough for anybody!

Certain interesting local recipes involve fruit. Panicelli d'uva passula are fresh grapes wrapped in leaves from the lime tree and baked in the oven. Crocette are made of dried figs, cut in two and stuffed with walnuts and almonds, then baked until they turn a reddish brown color. Pasta is a tower of strength in these households and takes on many forms, from canneroni, which are large tubes, to the thinnest vermicelli. The best cheeses are cacio cavallo, made from cow and sheep milk, and the familiar ricotta and Provole.

Calabrians who live close to the sea find a plentiful supply of fish in the local shops - tuna, swordfish, pike, sardines, and eels. In the marshes near Nicastro hunters bag woodcock, wild duck, and moor hen. It would appear that nature is kind to the Calabrians in one way at least - if they invest sufficient labor, their larders are well stocked.

The Calabrian hillsides are hospitable to vineyards, and several creditable wines come from the region. They tend to be dark and heavy, and many of them are shipped to fortify the more fragile wines of northern Italy. However, plenty of good vintages remain to be tasted by the passing oenophile. The best red table wine here is called Ciro di Calabria, a sturdy fellow running between thirteen and fifteen degrees in alcohol. Two good white wines are Rogliano and the familiar Malvasia, grown in the Catanzaro region. For a dessert wine you have Greco di Gerace, an amber nectar pressed from the Moscato-Fior d'Arancio grape, said to impart a faint bouquet of orange blossoms.