Through the Olive Branches . Theyre hard to avoid in puglia, a region thats home to 60 million olive trees. Thats one olive tree for every italian in italy. This region is italy at its most elemental simple fresh cuisine thats grown and produced here. Fragrant olive oil, beautiful vegetables, cheeses renowned the world over. Hello. Hello. One focaccia. And durum wheat for pasta and bread. Grazie. Look at that. Im stanley tucci. Im fascinated by my italian heritage, so im traveling across italy to discover how the food in each of this countrys 20 regions is as unique as the people and their past. You really want it to be like that . Need to be like this. Despite being such a fertile region, puglia is also one of italys poorest. It was nicknamed the shame of italy. Located in the south, a place the italians call il mezzogiorno, or high noon, because of the intensity of the midday sun, poverty and hardship are very much a recent memory in this part of the world. Get out of here. But today
hello, i m in puglia, which is the heel of can you see me through the olive branches? they re hard to avoid in puglia, a region that s home to 60 million olive trees. that s one olive tree for every italian in italy. this region is italy at its most elemental simple fresh cuisine that s grown and produced here. fragrant olive oil, beautiful vegetables, cheeses renowned the world over. hello. hello. one focaccia. and durum wheat for pasta and bread. look at that. i m stanley tucci. i m fascinated by my italian heritage, so i m traveling across italy to discover how the food in each of this country s 20 regions is as unique as the people and their past. you really want it to be like that? need to be like this. despite being such a fertile region, puglia is also one of italy s poorest. it was nicknamed the shame of italy. located in the south, a place the italians call il mezzogiorno, or high noon, because of the intensity of the midday sun, poverty a
through the olive branches? they re hard to avoid in puglia, a region that s home to 60 million olive trees. that s one olive tree for every italian in italy. this region is italy at its most elemental simple fresh cuisine that s grown and produced here. fragrant olive oil, beautiful vegetables, cheeses renowned the world over. hello. hello. one focaccia. and durum wheat for pasta and bread. grazie. look at that. i m stanley tucci. i m fascinated by my italian heritage, so i m traveling across italy to discover how the food in each of this country s 20 regions is as unique as the people and their past. you really want it to be like that? need to be like this. despite being such a fertile region, puglia is also one of italy s poorest. it was nicknamed the shame of italy. located in the south, a place the italians call il mezzogiorno, or high noon, because of the intensity of the midday sun, poverty and hardship are very much a recent memory in this part o
base is goat milk. yeah. so we break like this. what made you think to do this? i live in california for a while. oh, you did? yeah, in pasadena. oh, in pasadena. and i love surfing. so, you know, the blue of the ocean, so i want to do blue cheese. while vito s brothers were open-minded about creating new cheeses, a puglian blue was a step too far for the family. what did you think? i thought, he is crazy. what is he doing? my father shouted, it s too salty. my father said to tell him, don t let him do that. then he improved a lot over time. yes, yes. eventually, with the help of his family s constructive criticism, vito perfected the recipe and a spoonful of blue was born. so these are taralli. yes. made by my mom.
yeah. so we dip the taralli inside the blue cheese. that s really incredible. yeah. the mixture of the two, you have the sharpness of the blue, but then it s softened by the burrata. yeah. that s incredible. you re smart, aren t you? others might be content to stop there, but vito s continually improving on his creations and experimenting with new ideas. and where better to put his theories to the ultimate taste test than a cheese bar, which he opened with his fiancee, roberta, in the middle of the mercadante forest just outside altamura. i ve never heard of a cheese bar before. i like this. this is the only one in the world. here customers enjoy the full selection of vito s invented cheeses, but he s never forgotten how he started out on this unconventional journey. one item on the menu is focaccia barese, which vito s mother used