One of the most ubiquitous panini (plural for sandwich) in all of the Italy is prosciutto and cheese.  In fact, I made so many of the aforementioned panini in Italy one summer (helping Zia Teresa in her small shop) I thought all Italians survived on prosciutto (or prosciutto cotto <steam cooked Parma ham>) and cheese alone. Italian’s fascination with panini is easily understood when you begin to […]

  (photo: small block of Pecorino “Monte Poro” from Calabria)Sit down for a meal at any restaurant or home in Calabria and you’ll most likely encounter some variation of sheep’s milk cheese; specifically, Pecorino.  During our recent trip to Calabria, for example, we ate Pecorino 4-5x per week and often mixed in a platter with local salumi and olives.

Unlike other parts of the world, Italy is blessed with varied micro-environments.  The micro-environments help preserve the varied culture, foods, and traditions of the 107 provinces or regions of Italy. Cheese is an ideal example of how each Italian region produces it’s own version of a basic food commodity.  The region of Calabria, and the birthplace of my parents, produces […]