This is Morella.
What's that on the table in front of her?
That's some awesome Italian food.
How did that get there?
I'M GLAD YOU ASKED.
Morella runs
Taste of Calabria. She works hard to bring high-quality Italian produce from her native Calabria into the UK, and for that reason alone you owe her some serious high-five's.
We at DINNERGEDDON spend a bunch of time talking about the people that cook the food we eat, but not so much time talking about where the food comes from, and the challenges that presents. With this in mind, we had a sit-down chat with Morella, hoping to learn more about Calabria, food-immigration, and the elusive evil that is "Fake Italy"...
First of all, I know you detail a little of this on your website, but I’d like to begin by asking you how you came to start Taste Of Calabria... What drove you to begin importing food at the time?MORELLA: One day I had a really bad craving for some proper Italian food and just couldn’t find any. You know; like the food we really eat in Italy not the main stream low quality "Italian" food that you get in England. So I thought, “Well if I can’t get any proper Italian food in this country, why I just not bring it myself and show people what is the real Italian food...”
Urg, I know what you mean about some of the terrible “Italian” food you get in the UK. I am by no means an expert (on anything) but I do get the nagging feeling sometimes that I am being lied to by a food item... Who are the biggest purpetrators of this forgery, in your mind?
Well it's kind of difficult to say which one was the worse, but I can say that supermarkets are at the front of the list. The majority of Italian food importers; more so in London, bring industrially made food that actually we in the South do not eat because it is rubbish! One celebrity chef brand; quite famous that we all
know... the food is terrible and they sell it as Italian, and the thing is, all these companies and celebrity chefs all sell exactly the same products!
I think the reason why this sort of food got into the market is because unfortunately people here don’t know what Italian food is really about and what it is, therefore anything sold as Italian or with an Italian flag on the pack people think is good, but believe me not all Italian food is good, especially if it comes from the North. I wrote an article about this issue in my
blog, check it out!
I’ve often actually wondered about the difference between what constitutes real Italian food, and what English people expect to get when they go for Italian. For example, there’s a fairly authentic seeming pasta place here in town that I really like and we went there for a DINNERGEDDON outing last month. We were sat down eating our gnocchi, and it really was very good, but then we noticed that there were lots of Italian people, in small groups, turning up and being led downstairs to a separate room... sneaking off to have a look, we discovered that there was in fact a second, secret restaurant hidden in the basement, that was full entirely of people speaking Italian! As much as we had been enjoying our meal, in typical fashion we started worrying that the people in the secret restaurant were being given better food... Now i’m obsessed with the secrets of the basement menu.... Jajajajaja* that’s quite funny, I’m gonna go to this secret restaurant and let you know what’s all about!
Please do! Bring us back some of the good shit...
The things is Italian food is all about the ingredients, seasoning, herbs and spices we use. But the most important things is the freshness and nature (as in no chemicals, etc) of the ingredients. Also good produce for example, pastas. You can’t compare industrially made pasta with hand made pasta, the flavour is different, the texture is different, etc. Non-Italian people think that Italian food is only about eating pasta and pizzas. Any pasta with some sort of sauce and pizza with eggs and chips on it, and it's not. It's about the ingredients and the appreciation of the quality of them. If you see Italian recipes they are the most simple recipes of all because the aim is to enjoy the flavour of the ingredients in combination with some spices and herbs. Also, Italians enjoy food, enjoy eating food, and eating is one of life’s pleasures and therefore we take our time to eat good food. For many people elsewhere, eating and food is just petrol for the stomach to keep alive and therefore no importance is given to have a good meal sitting down in a table.
Why do you think people in the UK are so much more accepting of poor quality food? Do you think it’s to do with the produce we have available, or is it perhaps more of a cultural thing?I think the problems in the UK are two-fold:
A). The weather. Unfortunately you can’t grow good vegetables or fruits without sun or good soil, and with constant rain, that’s why more and more polytunnels are being built in this country. It's not the same growing a tomato in a polytunnel with no real soil in tempetures under 10 degrees almost all year round, than to growing it in real soil, with constant sun and above 15 degrees all year round, don’t you think?
B) The speed of how the food needs to be produced doesn’t help in the production of good food, but only cheap food. The amount that needs to be produced doesn’t allow for things to be grown naturally or animals to be grown at their own speed as they should. This brings the use of chemicals and substances that take flavour and nutrition out from the foods and make them bland. So as this is the food produced in this country that’s what British people are use to and that’s why when they go on holiday to; for example, Italy, they love the food there.
I know what you mean, it’s all about speed and cheapness over here, people are obsessed with it. We'll happily eat anything if you give it to us free and quickly.
I have this romantic vision in my head of life in southern Italy, like you see in films, where everybody is snoozing in the sun, just relaxing eating amazing olives, and wearing big wide-brimmed hats.... is any of that true? Jajajajaja, well down there people don’t use those hats but I know what you mean...
Is it perhaps that relaxed mindset that allows people the patience to not rush their food and ruin it in the process?Life can be quite hectic when you have to go to work, etc but the difference is that their mentality is that work is part of your life, not your entire life which is the difference here. People live to live life, enjoy going out with friends, eat, etc not work, work, work like here. Also you’re right about the patience, this is key in Italian cooking. Italian have all the patience in the world if this means having a better quality and good ingredient. I have a recipe for spaghetti with seafood that almost takes all day to prepare it, but that’s OK if it means having a very good plate of food, get the idea?
I understand that the traditional cooking in Italy is very provincial, and can differ widely in areas only a few miles away. What’s unique about Calabria, that you would not necessarily find elsewhere in the country?If you look on my website you see for example the cured meats I have, like the capicollo, schiacciata, ‘Nduja, these are cured meats that are only made in Calabria and they distinguished form other cured meats because of the spices we use, the use of chilli and the way they have been cured, which makes them different in flavours.
Our Spaghetatta di Mezzanotte which is the combination of traditional Calabrean chilli, dried parsley and smoked garlic, something that is eaten in Calabria at midnight. But I think the most unique factor in Calabrean food and what makes it apart from the rest is the use of only the best ingredients that we get from surrounding mountains hand picked. Animals that live wild and free make the most fantastic milk and meat, and of course the weather, sun and very good soil makes the best vegetables and fruits.
Tell me more about ‘Nduja...That looks like my kind of thing! 
‘Nduja is the most traditional food from Calabria. Basically is a soft cured sausage made with lean pieces of minced pork mixed with chilli, and spices. The consistency is similar of pâté and in fact is eaten spread on warm bread or toast. We also use it for sauces/casseroles, etc as it gives a fantastic flavour with just a little bit. Chilli is the most important ingredient in Calabria, we are the chilli capital of Europe and everything we eat has chilli in it!! We also eat it raw with every meal. The ‘Nduja is hot! So you only use a little bit unless you have quite a good resistance to heat. Now it's started to get known in London and Pizza Express is now using it in their pizzas.
It's nice to see just a little bit of real Italy sneaking into through the back-door then.Thank you very much for talking to us Morella! Keep fighting the good fight... 
* It's a silent "J", dude.
