katie parla

Join acclaimed food and travel writer Katie Parla to explore Calabria in southern Italy. We’ll travel around the region, known for decisive flavors and beautiful scenery, in search of local specialties and home-grown favorites.

Calabria, the so-called “toe” of “the boot” of the Italian peninsula, is a long and mountainous region known for its eggplant, pasta, and pork-driven cuisines. Calabria’s geography begets decisive flavors in the form of torpedo-shaped onions from Tropea and piquant licorice from Rossano. Vast national parks run through the center of the region, and they are thick with trees ideal for spawning mushrooms, while the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas, which meet at the port city of Reggio Calabria, wrap around the toe and support small-scale fishermen, who catch cuttlefish, swordfish, and tuna in their waters. This talk will dive deeply into the history, geography, and culture of Calabrian cuisine, investigating how Greek, Roman, Arab, Spanish, Jewish, and most recently Italians have left indelible impressions on what and how we eat in Calabria today.

Led by an expert on Italian food and culture, Katie Parla, this interactive seminar will explore the Italian region of Calabria. Designed to inform curiosity and future travels, participants will come away with an increased understanding of how history and geography have shaped the food culture of southern Italy.