I’m finally back from Italy and have been looking forward to posting. I wanted to post while I was there but between family, friends and eating there was little time… not to mention my lack of Internet access. Anyway it rained a lot but my cousin Alessandro and I took advantage of the few sunny days we had and went foraging for wild asparagus. As you know from some of my past posts… I like to get in the woods to find wild mushrooms but this time a year in Calabria it’s wild asparagus.
My Aunt makes a delicious frittata!
I want to forage for asparagus also! Looks wonderful.
I bet those would taste great with the rack of lamb I’m fixing this week. Glad you had a great trip but I am jealous.
Wow, wild asparagus! I’d love to forage for some. I bet it tastes incredible.
Welcome back Joe and thanks for sharing the video clip. Wild asparagus are also found in Greece and I would so love a hike (like you did) foraging for free food!
I payed very close attention to the video. I intend to look for my own!
Joe – Welcome back. I hope you had a great time. I remember my parents taking us to hunt for wild asparagus as a kid. great memories. I can’t wait to see your future posts from all your Italian adventures.
Welcome back!!! Nice video too!
Wild asparagus–who knew? It’s tall and slender; I bet it tastes really good, espcially in that frittata. I may have to go wrangle up some asparagus from the produce department and try the frittata.
Hi Joe,
Welcome back. Looks like you had a great time with your family. The wild asparagus is a little behind those in Calabria, but then we’re that much further north. So it makes sense, I suppose. Loved the video – so that’s what you sound like!
Pardon my obsession, Joe, but did you know that Calabrian Greeks still exist?
Greek dialects were spoken extensively in Southern Italy until a few years ago. They almost disappeared during Fascism who discouraged linguistic minorities.
In the past some of these Greeks played a big role. Barlaam the Calabrian (ca. 1290 – 1348), an Italian Greek “by ethnic descent and language,” for example. Great scholar “he was the instructor of both Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio [the first humanists], and their writings owe much to him.” (Wikipedia)
He helped Boccaccio to translate Homer into Latin thus preparing the groundwork for Renaissance. Great and complex land Italy, without a doubt!
WoW Joe, I can taste the sweetness in those wild asparagus!
Thanks for all the comments… I’m STILL playing catchup but trying to post and reply to all of you. Ciao for now.
MOR… you are a wealth of knowledge, which is why I read your blog. I bet Peter from Kalofagas is loving your comment!
On another note… I spent 1 day in Roma on my way back. It never stops amazing me.
I’m just a crazy dilettante, Joe.
Yes, Roma is Roma. Not that I’m always crazy about what the Pope is doing, but I deeply respect the Catholic Church, also for being somewhat a remnant of what was Rome, and the Pontifex Maximus, or Pope, the last surviving magistrate of ancient Rome.
Again, I’m showing all my folly
Peter? I’ll have a look at his blog. Ciao
[...] Joe from Italyville [...]
My neighbor just gave me (what they call) wild asparagus yesterday:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13029497@N00/2395860568/in/photostream/
(Photo from last year at this time.)
It’s quite different from asparagus (and even the wild asparagus you have here), but that’s what they call it. Always mysteries to solve around here, I tell you
I went asparagus hunting with my cousin Macoliva in the mountains hill outside her summer home outside the town of Termini Immerse Sicily, she found a hand full I saw nothing but grass, they are so skinny they don’t look like the normal asparagus.It was fun though.