It was probably the rhythmic whirring of the rollers of twenty trollies on the old cobblestones of the steeply rising village street that caught his attention. Quickly he left his small supermarket to take a look at the hustle and bustle. Like a single file, the tour group moved up the small, winding road, visibly exhausted. With an astonished but also somewhat sad face, he raised his hand and waved goodbye. Arrivederci!
This was the last of many bizarre, but at the same time fantastic moments that I will definitely keep in my mind for a long time. Impressions from a trip to Cilento with the common goal of writing a cookbook for this very region in just one week.
Experiencing the reality of a small, picturesque Italian village for a few days is full of magic and simply feels right. The fisherman who lands at the harbor in the evening and sells the catch of the day directly from the boat, the butcher who keeps his pigs in a small pasture under old fruit trees. And just the owner of the supermarket described at the beginning, who waved us goodbye. We visited you all every day, mostly several times, always looking for the freshest, most typical and best products for the next recipe.
What we all thought was almost impossible at the beginning of the trip actually worked out: We wrote a cookbook together. More than 140 pages strong. Full of local recipes and products of spring in Cilento. Even what I didn’t think was possible worked excellently: A group of complete strangers worked perfectly together – but much more important for me – understood each other perfectly and made this trip a very special experience.
Culinarily, we have oriented ourselves primarily to the fantastic seasonal spring products of the region, both in the daily catering but also with regard to the cookbook. Cedri, puntarelle, wild chicory, wild asparagus, wild broccoli, fish from the harbor, meat from the butcher and of course lots of homemade pasta.
Another excursion took us to Azienda Agricola San Giovanni, a winery whose slopes gently slope down to the sea. And indeed, especially in Paestum, which grows on slopes in the front line to the sea, reflects very intensely precisely this salty and mineral note. Great wine, fabulous winery – and tucked away among the vines is a little cottage you can rent by the week.
The cookbook now has about 140 pages and recipes from five categories. Who would have dared to hope that at the beginning. Now we have to master the last 5%, i.e. the final proofreading of all content, the final artwork – and then the printing. I will keep you posted!
Remains to thank me. Of course to all fellow travelers, but also to Florian, who with Opentrips provides a great platform for collaborative planning and coordination of even unusual trips. Be it our cookbook trip or, for example, a round trip through Albania in search of the roots of folkloric songs.
Another thanks goes to Gianfranco and his team from Hotel Antonietta in San Marco. A great host, who even the craziest requests of our lively tour group never upset and who was always there to help us in the kitchen with words and deeds.
