It is ironical that in a town that was a considerable producer of durum wheat like Calitri, most of its people, because of their dire poverty, had to depend for their sustenance as a rule on maize and chick peas.

In the more distant past, only the fortunate few could afford wheat bread. The rest of the population, namely those who broke their backs with hard work and had callous hands, could afford this luxury only when they were with a foot in the grave (hence, even today in Calitri, the expression used to indicate that an individual is on death’s doorstep is “he/she is at the whole-wheat bread stage”.

Bread for the poor consisted of wheat flour mixed with ground chick peas and corn. Another basic food was corn pizza, cooked on heated stone slabs.

The most common food taken with bread was peppers, mostly of the hot variety. Condiments like fatback and lard were used very sparingly. Oil was used least of all because too expensive.

The artisan class had their main meal at noon, while the farmers had theirs in the evening.

Depending on the season, there could be a prevalence of small onions, then lettuce, chick peas, fresh peas, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, turnips, cabbage and Savoy cabbage.

In all seasons, the food prepared most regularly was a soup of greens (m’nestra) consisting for the most part of wild greens, varieties of chicory and borage, all plentiful and inexpensive.