When El works we do most of our outdoor activities before she starts around 3:00pm. Her last workday in Bari we made a morning of walking around enjoying the waterfront and walking into the old town. She wanted to get a photo with Nunzia. Of the few times we met with her we never thought to take a picture. Being we are leaving in two days, we knew this would be our only opportunity. We took the long way around to wind up on Strade de Orecchiette. When you turn onto this street (large alley really) if there is a crowd at one spot, it is no doubt at Nunzia’s. She is a bona fide local celebrity. She makes orecchiette, she cooks for people in her house. She represents Puglia in New York! (El can probably explain this better than me but just before the pandemic there was some kind of culinary convention in New York, and Nunzia was selected to represent her region at the convention). It must have had some sort of media coverage because now people from all over the world seek her out when they are in Bari. So she can one minute be sitting and cranking out orecchiette or preparing ingredients for cooking, and the next moment she is outside her door greeting 10 travelers wanting to get a glimpse of the woman herself and buy some of her homemade products. We stand amongst the crowd waiting our turn but once she spots El in the crowd she turns her attention from the tourists surrounding her and greets El with open arms pulling her to the front of the line- old friends are more important than new friends. We explain that we only need a photo, and since we are here, a bag of pasta will also do.
Until we meet again, Nunzia, keep cranking out the orecchiette, your personality is literally putting this town on the culinary map.
No comments:
Post a Comment