Calabrian

Calabrian meals are built around the primo pasta course and a secondo of pork, goat, or (on the coast) swordfish and tuna. The antipasto is an explosion of preserved things: 'nduja spread on bread, soppressata, mushrooms and eggplant under oil, olives. A Calabrian table is never without peperoncino in some form. Sunday lunch is the week's event: a long-cooked meat ragù (often goat or pork) that first dresses the pasta, then becomes the secondo. Desserts range from pitta 'mpigliata (pastry coils with honey, figs, and nuts) to turdilli (fried pastry in honey).

Calabria was the heart of Magna Graecia — the Greek colonial world — and its food bears ancient traces of that civilisation: flat breads, olive oil, legumes, and the bitter herb traditions. Roman Calabria was a major grain producer. The Norman and Aragonese periods introduced more pork culture and a stronger charcuterie tradition. The chili pepper arrived from the Americas via Spanish colonial routes in the 16th–17th century and rapidly became so integrated that Calabrian cooking is now inconceivable without it. Centuries of extreme poverty under the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies created the resourceful cucina povera that puts 'nduja on the world's charcuterie boards today. Massive emigration to northern Italy, the Americas, and Australia spread Calabrian food culture far beyond the region.

• Aspromonte (south)

  The toe of the boot; fiercest mountain poverty tradition; goat is more common than pork; wild herbs intensify; bergamot is cultivated exclusively on this coast.

• Vibo Valentia and Spilinga

  Home of 'nduja; the coastal strip around Spilinga is where the DOP-quality 'nduja originates; also the centre of Tropea onion cultivation.

• Cosenza (north)

  More influence from Campania and Basilicata; slightly less chili heat; the lagane e cicciari (pasta with chickpeas) is a distinct northern Calabrian first course.

• Tyrrhenian coast

  Swordfish (pesce spada) in summer is the defining ingredient; swordfish rolls (involtini di pesce spada) braised in tomato and herb are a Calabrian coastal classic distinct from Sicilian versions.

• Sicilian

  Shared Greek colonial past, Arab influence, swordfish, eggplant, and a sweet-sour agrodolce tradition; Calabria is fierier and less sweet.

• Pugliese

  Both are cucina povera traditions built on legumes, preserved pork, and durum wheat pasta; Puglia is bitter-herbaceous, Calabria is fiery-smoky.

• Basilicatan

  Immediately neighbouring inland region; shared poverty, shared charcuterie traditions, and the common use of soppressata and dried chili; Basilicata's peperone crusco (sweet dried pepper) is a gentler relative of Calabrian chili culture.

1. 1.Southern Italian Cooking, Jo Bettoja, Bantam Books
2. 2.Gastronomy of Italy, Anna del Conte, Pavilion Books
3. 3.The Food of Italy, Waverley Root, Vintage Books
4. 4.Italy in Small Bites, Carol Field, William Morrow

Confidence: high