A few pointers

 In another post I will discuss pasta. A day without pasta is a day without sunshine and us Italian love sunshine.

As you well realize, I mainly cook southern Italian food  but I also love the northern fare. After all, Italian cuisine is the most varied in the world. It is delicious, healthful and in most cases simple. As Luigi Barzini wrote in his The Italians, Italian cuisine is a celebration of nature. To pull of this gastronomic magic one must use only the best and freshest ingredients. This is, at times, not easy to do in a world of mass marketing and chemically treated foods and vegetables. Therefore try getting organic produce and meats and buy the best extra virgin olive oil. Italian oil is varied according to the many regions. This is a complex issuw best addressed at a later time. It is sufficient to buy oil product of Italy. Packed in Italy is OK as long as the oils come from the EU. Spanish and Greek oils are also good. It's a matter of taste and what's available in your area. Some brands of packed in Italy such as Filippo Berio and Bertolli are good. Partanna is a very good Sicilian Oil. Madre Sicilia is excellent too. Of course you cannot go wrong with Colavita oil. Be sure to use Sicilian sea salt it's the tastiest and has been made since the time of the Greeks.

Rocco Galatioto