"If you see something on the menu you don't know, you should order it" - Sophie Grigson about Italian food, family secrets and the joy of trying out something new

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Listen to Sophie Grigson on the PodcasT when she shares how a brave step after Hirlia inflamed her passion for food. Explore delicious stories about our Podcast page.

The real taste of neck

What surprised Sophie the most was how different the Pugian food is from the Italian dishes that most British know and love. Forget creamy lasagoes and rich egg noodles, the south, as she discovered, is a world from a distance.

“When I arrived in Huplia, it really brought home how regional Italian food is,” she explains. “The uplian meal differs very, very differently than the food of northern Italy … For example, pasta is only made from flour and water because they were very, very poor.”

“The landscape is another reason that the Puglische Essen is very vegetable basis … The country is very stony, very difficult to do and there is very little water … so many impulses because you grow in winter, harvest it and then dry it for summer.”

A country of contrasts

Sophie travels through Italy and is fascinated by the way history and geography shape what ends up on the plate. It describes a culinary journey from the Greek-influenced bitterness of shit to the sweet and Skanian aromas of Sicily-a legacy of the Moorish influence.

“When they pass through Calabria towards Sicily, they come sweet and acidic aromas, the agradolce aromas that I have always associated with Sicily. And again that Agrodolce is not so widespread further north.”

However, the differences are not just about ingredients, but about identity. “Nord -Italians believe that the South Italians are lazy, stupid and less trained. Now it is not true at all. Some of the most hardest people I know are southern Italians … And then the southern Italians, the northern Italians are Snobs, too, do not know how to live properly.”

Sophie has her own theory about what combines Italy: “The way you think about food is like a pyramid. All Italians know that the best cuisine in the world is Italian. Then comes the best Italian food from your region. Then the food of your city is better than any other city.

Family, heir and the joy of the unknown

Sophie’s own food heritage is deep. Her mother, Jane Grigson, was a revered grocery author, and Sophie grew up in a household in which “food” and curiosity was encouraged.

“One of my mother’s great mantras, which actually came from my grandmother, was, when you see something on a menu you don’t know, you should order.

It is a philosophy that she did well in Italy, where she accepted local dialects, traditions and a whole new way of cooking. But some British comfort are still calling back, such as: Sussex Pond Pudding -A Suet crusty dessert with a whole lemon inside. “That was one that my mother made … When you cut into him, this lake of the lemons, butter -like, sugary syrup comes out and he is divine.”

Kitchen disasters and guilty joys

Even the most experienced cooks have their disasters. Sophie remembers the time when she left a gammon in the oven for 24 hours to discover “a much smaller charcoal version of the gammon”.

Hot honeyglased gammon with slices cut from the front

As for guilty joys? “Scampi fries,” she confesses with a laugh. “There is only something in them that makes you addicted, isn’t it?”

Lessons from a life in the food

For Sophie, good food begins with good ingredients, “not expensive, but actually those who … fresh, locally grown if they can get them.” And above all, she is committed to curiosity. “Food is exciting. How to discover food and discover a country.”

Whether you dig out the secrets of uplic impulses or a perfected Tatin PieSophie’s story reminds that the best meals – and the best life – are those with curiosity, courage and a dash of adventures.