Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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The Food Lover's Companion to Naples and the Campania
(Carla Capalbo) An en-
cyclopedic guide to Campania's food producers and nosh spots.
Enjoy Limoncello?
If so, there is no need to weigh down your luggage with umpteen bottles (with the risk of
breakage and booze-soaked clothing), as it is remarkably easy to make. Check the internet
for a good recipe (consider following the links on
www.jamieoliver.com
or
www.bbcgoodfood.com
)
and make sure you use good unwaxed lemons, even if they are
not
the sun-kissed variety from Capri. If you speak Italian, check out the
www.limoncellodiprocida.it
website where there is a good recipe (and they also ship...).
Campanian Culinary Icons
Pizza
Despite the Bourbons' lavish legacy, Campania's no-nonsense attitude to food - keep it
simple, keep it local and keep it coming - remains deeply rooted in the traditions of the
poor. This is especially true in its predilection for pizza, a mainstay of
cucina povera
and
one of the foundations on which Naples' gastronomic reputation stands.
A derivation of the flat breads of ancient Greece and Egypt, pizza was already a com-
mon street snack by the time the city's 16th-century Spanish occupiers introduced the to-
mato to Italy. The New World topping cemented the pizza's popularity and in 1738
Naples' first pizzeria opened its doors on Port'Alba, where it still stands. Soon after, the
city's
pizzaioli
(pizza makers) began to enjoy minor celebrity status.
To this day, the city's most famous dough-kneader remains Raffaelle Esposito, inventor
of the classic pizza margherita. As the city's top
pizzaiolo,
Esposito was summoned to fire
up a treat for a peckish king Umberto I and his wife Queen Margherita on a royal visit in
1889. Determined to impress the Italian royals, Esposito based his creation of tomato,
moz zarella and basil on the red, white and green flag of the newly unified Italy. The res-
ulting topping met with the queen's approval and was subsequently named in her honour.
More than a century later, pizza purists claim that you really can't top Esposito's classic
combo when made by a true Neapolitan
pizzaiolo
. Not everyone is in accordance and
Italians are often split between those who favour the thin-crust Roman variant, and those
who go for the thicker Neapolitan version.
According to the official Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (Real Neapolitan Pizza
Association), genuine Neapolitan pizza dough must be made using highly refined type 00
