Where simple foodie pleasures rule

“I t’s the squeak in your mouth as you chew,” a bystander whispers as traditional Italian cheesemaker Anna Casulli transforms a bowl of curd into the plaited bright white mozzarella I recognise from deli counters at home. Fresh food is almost a religion in Puglia, the long region in the heel of Italy’s boot, where local producers speak about their creations with enthusiastic pride and passion. They may lack the style and sophistication of dishes created further north, but nowhere else will you find eating more connected to local culture. The olive, the grape and wheat are staples here, symbols of family peace, abundance and fertility printed on tablecloths in local trattorias. Anna’s organic farm, Azienda Nuovo Muretto, around 30 minutes from Alberobello, serves local “peasant” cuisine. Focaccia made with tomatoes and dipped in local olive oil tastes softer and lighter than what I’m used to at home. And then there is the cheese. We are filled to the brim with chewy mozzarella, plaited treccia, knotted nodini, and scamorza (a smokey flavoured cheese similar to mozzarella). Traditional pasta follows - little ear shaped orecchiette - handmade and cooked al dente with a simple tomato-based sauce. “We don’t buy anything,” Anna’s husband Angelo says with a proud smile. When I suggest they must visit the supermarket for something, Anna insists “only cleaning products”. The 80-hectare farm has pretty much everything they need - cows for both meat and milk, chickens, fruit trees and fields filled with vegetables. The couple, aged in their late 50s, lead a simple, self-sufficient yet hardworking life, and farm the land themselves with no outside help. It’s a Pugliese way of life that goes back decades. Even Alberobello’s most famous tourist attraction, the trulli, have links to this agricultural and pastoralist past - the cone-roofed stone buildings were once used to store wheat for pasta or bread, and some housed families and their animals. “In Alberobello, the trulli have all been converted into boutiques. None really remain as before,” says Angelo, who owns 10 of them.

BREAD IS KING

Bread is a staple in Altamura, I realise as I watch locals queue up for freshly-baked loaves outside the Di Gesu bakery. It’s a few decades since the familyrun bakery hosted a neighbourhood oven - forno di quartiere - used by those living nearby to bake their breads. With hundreds of loaves baked at a time, the bread would be branded with a family stamp to ensure everyone claimed the correct dough. I’m transfixed watching Giuseppe Di Gesu knead and twist the dough into shape with the speed that comes from a lifetime of experience. The 44-year-old is the fifth generation of his family to work in the bakery, which now sells various products including focaccia, taralli (the traditional tiny doughnut-shaped crunchy snacks) and Pane di Altamura - labelled to show it is only produced in that region, using local grain. He jokes that he is really 65 but puts a youthful appearance down to the power of the bread. His uncle Luca’s daily routine of rising at 4am after around five hours’ sleep to help in the bakery six days a week, has me wondering - if an 84-year-old can do that and still appear sprightly, maybe there is some magic in the bread... I finish my trip full of the most wonderful food - not to mention full of good intentions to bake my own bread and make my own pasta. I just have to get my appetite back first. Explore (01252 884 723; explore.co.uk) offers an eight-day Taste of Puglia trip from £1,295 per person, including flights, transfers and some meals.