The heel of the boot: food and drink in Salento

Salento is a beautiful region in the southeast of Italy. It is located in the lower part of Puglia, with the Ionian Sea to the west and the Adriatic Sea to the east, forming the ‘heel’ of the Italian ‘boot’. The area includes the provinces of Lecce, Brindisi and a part of Taranto. As a rule, the traditional cuisine of Salento is based around ‘poor’ and cheap ingredients such as barley flour, which is less expensive than refined wheat. Wild and cultivated vegetables and fish are also common, as traditionally meat was too expensive and oily fish were seen as less desirable in the north.

Salento’s cuisine is characterized more than anything else by seasonal vegetables. Turnip greens, various types of cabbages and cauliflowers, chard, thistles, tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, olives, artichokes and spring onions crop up throughout the year, while beans are enjoyed fresh in the spring and dried during the winter season. Vegetables tend to be consumed with bread or homemade pasta in dishes such as orecchiette with turnip greens, ciciri e tria (chickpeas with fried pasta) and a broad bean purée which is flavoured with olive oil and served with boiled chicory: a sublime combination of vegetables and legumes.

Vegetables are also cooked in oil to preserve them. Aubergines, artichokes and peppers are often jarred in extra virgin olive oil and seasoned with vinegar, mint or salt, before being served as antipasti or as a sandwich filling. There are also the wild vegetables Salento is famous for – wild chicory, dandelion, wild asparagus, wild mustard and the famous wild onions called pampasciuni. Near the coast you can find marine fennel, which grows on wet rocks near the sea.

The Salento landscape is teeming with vineyards and olive trees, mostly devoted to red and white wine (Negroamaro and Malvasia varieties) and extra virgin olive oil, which is famous all over the world.

The most common fruits in Salento are prickly pears and figs (which are dried and stuffed with almonds to preserve them) in summer and citrus fruits in the winter. But you can also find several varieties of small pear, peaches, apricots, loquats, plums, cherries, quinces, pomegranates, watermelons and melons. There also wild fruits such as strawberries, jujubes, mulberries and carob.