As many of you know, my parents (and extended family) were all born in the southern Italian province of Calabria (specifically in a tiny hilltop village called Pellegrina).  The region of Calabria is comprised of mountains, multiple seas, farms, small and large towns, and even a few urban centers.  The history of Calabria is tumultuous and is part of why […]

(photo: couch’s whiting or blue whiting with red onion, peppers, and tomatoes) (UPDATE 1/31/09: Contest is closed.  The winner is Evan Lucas!  Thanks to everyone for participating.) In Elena Kostioukovitch’s preface from the book, “Why Italians Love to Talk About Food” Elena asks, “And why is that you identify particular historic moments with references to food?”  The “you” Elena is […]

(Photo: that’s my mother, grandmother, and aunts leaning on an Oxen in rural Calabria) If you haven’t noticed, Scordo.com has been posting on all things Italian as of late (salami, mushroom hunting, espresso, Italian cocktails/Amari, Italian immigrants and money, dry pasta, pesto, cheese, etc.) and I wanted to reassure my readers that while the editorial theme of Scordo.com will not […]

Homemade pizza dough recipe I’ll go out on a limb and posit that pizza may be the best food type on the planet. Pizza has everything: incredible texture, rich flavor, it’s cheap to prepare, it’s filling, and, in general, is one of the rare food types that contains both complexity and simplicity. My beloved Aunt Giovanna (pictured on the left) owns a small […]

OK, so I just updated my Facebook status to read, “Vincent is feeling Old World” and I need to explain the thinking behind the status: I just finished watching Emanuele’s Crialese’s The Golden Door and it was truly magnificent.  Crialese tells the story of a Sicilian’s family voyage to the US in the early 20th century.  The film is simplistic […]

The Best, and Most Affordable, Wine You’ve Never Heard Of: Aglianico

Southern Italy Bagnara Calabra Province of Calabria Calabria was, and continues to be, a poor region (by northern Italian standards), however the people tend to lead happy lives.  From a culinary perspective, Calabrians tend to consume: swordfish sardines cod (Baccalà) pork lamb goat eggplant chili pepper Lemon Fruit (pears, peach, cactus pears, mulberry, etc.) From a production and economic perspective, there’s […]