As anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE to cook, and more importantly I LOVE to eat good food. I have never been interested in ‘fancy’ foods or pretentious food, which seems to be so popular today and I never thought about it that much until I came to Italy. Here there is a term, ‘Cucina Povera’ which translates as ‘poor cooking’ and is often used to describe Italian food. Lou’s grandmother’s sister, Angie was the most humble of women, modest and shy but a fantastic cook, who practiced Cucina Povera…cooking with the most basic fresh ingredients and creating wonderfully tasty and healthy dishes.
I loved that woman; she would say ‘come on Peg, let me show you my basil” and we would go to the garden, she in her housedress with a big smile on her face.
By definition, poor people’s food is local, seasonal and carefully crafted to ensure maximum flavor with minimum ingredients. Lucca’s food is epitomized by one of the town’s most typical dishes, tortelli Lucchese. A simple egg pasta served with a rich meat sauce, often cinghiale or wild boar. The food is not complicated, not pretentious, and not served in huge portions- Cucina Povera for sure!
Tutti Giorno 