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In Calabria you do not need five spices to make a tomato taste like a tomato again.

Here the tomato is not revived with spices. It is still alive.

In Calabria, Mediterranean cooking does not live on spice orgies, but on freshness, season and origin. A good tomato does not need a costume. It needs sun, soil, water and the right moment.

This does not apply only to tomatoes. Oranges, figs, aubergines, courgettes, herbs, olive oil, fish, cheese and bread often still have their own character here. You do not have to persuade them to taste of something. You rather have to leave them alone.

Of course, that also has disadvantages. Fruit and vegetables that were not bred or treated for durability, transport and endless supermarket shelves often keep for a surprisingly short time. They do not look the same for weeks. They do not forgive long storage. They do not want to be managed, but eaten.

Calabrian foods are often not made to lie around flawlessly for a long time. They are made for the right moment: pick, cut, smell, taste, eat.

That is why Calabrian cooking does not begin with complicated recipes, but with good ingredients. A few things, properly combined: tomatoes, olive oil, basil, garlic, peperoncino, bread, fish, vegetables, cheese.

Not “more helps more”. Real helps better.

And that is exactly where the recipes of Calabria Pura begin: not with show cooking, but with what truly grows, ripens, smells and tastes here.

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