.::DICEMBRE 2001::.

For decades, people who went to Italy enjoyed eating the local specialties. Lately, elite groups of food-lovers have been taking vacations in Italy in order to cook there -- albeit paying extra for the privilege. A trend that started (and is still centered) in Tuscany has slowly migrated southward to explore the cuisine of Rome and Sicily. Apulia has now been added and most packages are offered in September and October. In the early 1990s, the culinary-tourism concept was created when the Italian government began to license farms called agriturismi. Any Italian who owned a plot of land and a masseria (farmhouse) could turn it into an upscale bed-and-breakfast. The government stipulated that the farms had to teach something to their guests as well as produce something, for instance, olive or truffle oil, wines, sausage, cheese, etc. Most of the agritourism farms produce a limited quantity of wine or oil in a season, which makes it feasible to include novices in the process of picking or processing. Since this initial agenda was highly successful, cooking classes were added eventually -- and applauded by a growing number of eager visitors, mostly women (ages 35-55), who enjoyed puttering around a stranger’s kitchen while also paying to be “on vacation.” Clearly, chef and restaurateur Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, who stars on the PBS program “Lidia’s Italian Table,” noticed there was a niche market for vacationers who enjoyed learning and working in foreign countries -- even wearing aprons. Five years ago, Bastianich whipped up her own venture, Esperienze Italiane. These are luxurious tours targeting the well-heeled eggplant Parmigiana explorers who have been spoon-fed a few seasons of 24-hour cooking channels, and who are now ready to master al dente techniques alongside the natives. Competition has expanded choices for the consumer and lowered the prices, though cooking on-site in Italian is not for the budget-minded.

The most popular culinary programs are still in the north. More than 60 of these cook-and-look excursions go to Tuscany, and 17 target Umbria. As tour operators began sourcing new locales, six sojourns in Sicily were organized. Now crime-ridden Apulia has been somewhat tamed, too, because the cozy groups are confined to one of three pugliese locations where safety is a component. Apulia, the heel and spur of Italy’s boot, has a traditional cuisine based on fresh vegetables and seafood, homemade pastas, cheese, and local olive oil. In parts of this region, there are unique dishes unavailable anywhere else in Italy: favi e fogghi (combination of cooked chicory and pureed fava beans flavored with olive oil), troccoli (homemade noodles cut with a ridged rolling pin), or marsciuli (bitter greens). Salentine gastronomy includes dishes such as spaghetti al riccio (prepared with a dozen sea urchins and urchin eggs), spaghetti al nero di seppia, verdure ripiene alla pugliese, rape 'nfucate, zuppa di pesce alla gallipolina, and “Li Pittule” (made with beer yeast, dried cod, lampasciuni, shelled lobsters, latterini [minoscia], boiled turnips, buttermilk curd, and black olives). Salentine recipes are online: www.puglia.org/ricette1.html]