Jamie's Great Italian Escape

When Jamie Oliver started his Italian tour, he was stunned at the quality of the food served in Sicily’s street markets. Forget greasy burgers from a dodgy stall – in Sicily shoppers can eat like kings as they buy their weekly groceries. Delicacies like artichoke, fresh salads with olives and ripe tomatoes and fillets of fried fish are just some of the tasty dishes on offer. The narrow, winding streets and covered market stalls feel more like the traditional souks or bazaars found in African and Middle Eastern cultures than the markets of other regions of Italy. It is thanks to the geographical location of Sicily, just off the southern toe of the Italian boot that it has such fantastic street food.

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Members of religious orders have traditionally been known for their good food and wines, so Jamie was looking forward to dining in splendour when he went to stay with the monks of the Benedictine community in Farfa, north of Rome. But the monks at the beautiful Farfa Abbey had long forgotten their culinary heritage. Tinned vegetables for dinner and a defunct herb garden inspired Jamie to take charge and encourage the monks to enjoy some good eating again.

Jamie's pasta making competition with the Mamas from Le Marche is part of a well-loved tradition in Italy. The English have their village fêtes, with tombolas and coconut shies. In Italy, the locals get together to celebrate their local foods at a sagra. Thousands of sagre take place around Italy to celebrate a particular food or wine from that area, In Le Marche, the region where Jamie visited the Sagre de Mercatello, nearly every town and village has at least one festival during the summer.

Jamie went deep into the heel of Italy to discover the secret to good regional food. He learnt that there was nothing the Italians loved more than having their food cooked for them– just the way their mamas do it.

Jamie spent six weeks travelling around Italy re-discovering his love of cooking and learning lots about the art of Italian cuisine.