Food in Puglia is like a religion… it is very important, it requires dedication and respect knowledge as well as an unconditional faith!

In my family, strictly matriarchal, she cooks her mother… one of my most cherished memories that I have seen my grandmother Maria making orecchiette under the cone of the trulli that have seen the birth of all her children, we grandchildren are there watching with nostrils full of the smell of fresh pasta waiting to be swallowed a raw ear to the away of Grandma’s gaze.

Sitting around a well-set table with family members every Sunday is a good way to take care of each other, to talk about their daily life… to feel at home.

We eat sauce with orecchiette, roast, fennel and raw chicory, seasonal fruit… average lunch duration 3 hours!

The menu can vary from family to family but the time taken for lunch is always slow and long, important, sacred. The dishes served become the dishes of the heart, they evoke the moments together… smell good.

It’s hard to explain how aubergine parmesan can be a feast, or the turnip tops sautéed with garlic and anicals or beans and chicory or freshly baked taralli.

The time dilated in this way, underlined by these flavors, smells and scents is a time spent wonderfully!

I also love my land for teaching me this: good food is not only eating well but it is above all sharing a time for the right time!