Arbëreshë cuisine

The Arbëreshë cuisine (Albanian: Kuzhina Arbëreshë; Italian: Cucina Arbëreshë) is the cuisine of the Arbëreshë people in Italy, who largely reside around the Calabria and Basilicata regions. It has been significantly influenced by Albanian and Italian cuisine, but has had little influence on Italian cuisine.^[1][2] In the 2010 book My Calabria, the author describes Arbëreshë cuisine in the region as largely indistinguishable from the broader cuisine of Calabria, with only the Arbëreshë pastas dromësat and shtridhelat [it] lacking a Calabrian equivalent.^[3]

Dishes based around vegetables within Arbëreshë cuisine include Common poppy leaves with beans (lulëkuqë me fasulë) and Mashed faba bean and wild chicory (bathë e çiqur).^[1] Some dishes are eaten seasonally, including a pie of egg, ricotta, lamb, and the boiled leaf stalks of Spanish salsify, during Easter,^[1] and dried fish, particularly anchovies, with the boiled and fried shoots of either a rapini variety or wild mustard, eaten on Christmas Eve.^[1]

Civita, Calabria, has a particularly prominent Arbëreshë population. As of 2019, two restaurants in the village—Agorà and Kamastra—served Arbëreshë cuisine, and a butcher and deli sold Arbëreshë ingredients.^[2] Among the ingrdients of the region's Arbëreshë cuisine includes dromësat (pasta grattata or "grated pasta" in Italian), a couscous-like pasta made by adding a small amount of water to flour and rolling it between the hands to produce flakes, cooked briefly in tomato broth until swollen. In My Calabria, this dish of dromësat cooked in tomato broth is described as reminscent of pappa al pomodoro.^[3]

Shtridhelat are another pasta typical of Arbëreshë cuisine, made by hand entirely without implements such as rolling pins, and resembling a thicker, less consistent fettucine.^[3] Other Arbëreshë dishes eaten in Civita include kangarigra kothra e ve (eggs with salami) and rrashkayel me mish derku (a pasta formed by rolling, served with pork ragu).^[2]