The Southern Table - Southern Italy - page 484

The Simple Things
Picture it: wood-fired bread drizzled in extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled with ripe pomodori
(tomatoes) and fragrant basilico (basil). The flavours explode in your mouth. From the
chargrilled crunch of the bread to the sweetness of the tomatoes, it's a perfect symphony of
textures and flavours.
In many ways, pane e pomodoro (bread and tomatoes) captures the very soul of the
southern Italian kitchen. Down here, fresh produce is the secret and simplicity is the key.
Order grilled fish and chances are you'll get exactly that. No rich, overbearing sauces…just
grilled fish with a wedge of lemon on the side. After all, it's the freshness of the fish you
should be savouring, right?
This less-is-more approach is a testament to the south's impoverished past. Pasta made
without eggs, bread made from hard durum wheat and wild greens scavenged from the
countryside are all delicious, but their consumption was driven by necessity. The tradition
of sopratavola (raw vegetables such as fennel or chicory eaten after a meal) arose because
people could not afford fruit. That of sottaceti (vegetables cooked in vinegar and preserved
in jars with olive oil) is part of the waste not, want not philosophy.
In modern times, the simple goodness of this cucina povera (poor man's cuisine) has
made it the darling of health-conscious foodies.
Tomatoes were not introduced to Italy until the 16th century, brought from the Americas. The word 'pom-
midoro' literally means 'golden apple'.