0:00:30 > 0:00:34After 59 days travelling through leafy green tunnels
0:00:34 > 0:00:37on the canals of southwest France,
0:00:37 > 0:00:41I finally reached what I think is a magical sea.
0:00:41 > 0:00:47A place which has long been considered the centre of our western civilisation.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52At the end of the last series, we finished up in Marseille,
0:00:52 > 0:00:56but one of the last shots was going out to sea,
0:00:56 > 0:00:58out of the mouth of the Rhone
0:00:58 > 0:01:01on the barge, on the Anjodi.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05I was thinking, "I want to carry on now.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10"I want to go somewhere." And the obvious choice was to go to Corsica.
0:01:10 > 0:01:17I thought about doing a trip round the Med in a sailing boat, but it would have been like the old song,
0:01:17 > 0:01:22"I joined the Navy to see the world, but what did I see? I saw the sea."
0:01:22 > 0:01:25So it was the trusty Land Rover and ferries.
0:01:25 > 0:01:33In the '70s, before package tours and air travel, I used to take my old Land Rover across Europe
0:01:33 > 0:01:39to places like Marseille or Genoa and Piraeus and take a ferry somewhere.
0:01:39 > 0:01:45It was hard work. Most of the time we had no money and slept on wooden benches.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50It was so interesting. It was tough, but there was a real pay-off.
0:01:50 > 0:01:55You got to know people on the boats, you got a flavour of the food,
0:01:55 > 0:02:01and you arrived somewhere, almost part of the atmosphere, and you don't get that on aeroplanes.
0:02:02 > 0:02:07I just think that if you really like food, this is the best way to travel,
0:02:07 > 0:02:12but in my journey round the Med, I'll visit well-known places where thousands of British people go,
0:02:12 > 0:02:18and where, surprisingly, food is not the main thing on their minds.
0:02:18 > 0:02:23- I'm not here for the cuisine.- Chips and gravy.- I've got my brown sauce.
0:02:23 > 0:02:31There's nothing wrong with brown sauce, but there's fabulous dishes in the back streets, in villages
0:02:31 > 0:02:35and next to the hundreds of markets, that a lot of holidaymakers miss altogether.
0:02:45 > 0:02:50I'm going pretty far afield from west to east, with food at the forefront of my mind.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54Most of what I'll experience will be a first for me,
0:02:54 > 0:03:00although some dishes will be old favourites that I've loved since I came to the Med as a teenager.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07The Mediterranean holds something dear to us all - this clear, sparkling sea,
0:03:07 > 0:03:13which in some places isn't as clear and sparkling as it should be!
0:03:13 > 0:03:18They say we kill the things we love and how true is that!
0:03:19 > 0:03:21But this is my first port of call,
0:03:21 > 0:03:26the island the French call Ile de Beaute, "the beautiful island".
0:03:26 > 0:03:29Well, that's it, I rest my case -
0:03:29 > 0:03:33ferry travel, look at that, over air travel.
0:03:33 > 0:03:40I can't wait to get ashore. It's like an oil painting and I can already smell the maquis.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45Napoleon, when he was imprisoned on Elba, was always made very sad
0:03:45 > 0:03:49when the wind came from the west and he could smell the maquis from his homeland.
0:03:49 > 0:03:57This looks as if I'm arriving in Italy, but this was owned and run for 500 years by the Genoans,
0:03:57 > 0:04:04then they sold it to France 250 years ago, so there's a lot of Italian influence.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09Even the northern capital Bastia comes from the Italian meaning "stronghold" or "citadel".
0:04:15 > 0:04:20Napoleon Bonaparte might very well be Corsica's favourite son.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22Not everyone will agree with that,
0:04:22 > 0:04:29but judging by the freshness of the flowers under his statue, the local council like him very much indeed.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34I don't think a great deal has changed since he popped his clogs.
0:04:34 > 0:04:42He could still find his way around here. They say the Corsicans can be a little stern and suspicious
0:04:42 > 0:04:49and they think very much of themselves as Corsicans first and French firmly second.
0:04:49 > 0:04:56This is the little touchstones in a market that I'm always looking for, the products from the area.
0:04:56 > 0:05:03- I suspect that's, um...- C'est oeuf du poisson.- Oui.- Les oeufs du poisson. C'est du caviar.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06- Comme le caviar?- Caviar, oui.
0:05:06 > 0:05:13That's grey mullet roe that's salted. It's a real speciality of this part of the Mediterranean.
0:05:13 > 0:05:19- And these are anchovies. - Les anchois a la bastiaise.- Oui.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23Il y a de l'ail, un melange d'huile, le persil - a la maman!
0:05:23 > 0:05:28She says these are anchovies, but they're done to her mother's recipe
0:05:28 > 0:05:32with oil, garlic and parsley.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35- Combien pour ca?- Huit.- Huit.
0:05:36 > 0:05:41Anchovies, bread, some tomatoes, a glass of wine - perfection.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44I'd like to try some ham if I could.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47- Can I taste some?- Yeah, sure.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51So, how come you speak English so well?
0:05:51 > 0:05:56I've been living in London for a few years when I was a student.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58I was working in a Greek restaurant.
0:05:58 > 0:06:05- Do you imagine? A French girl in England working in a Greek restaurant.- Interesting.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07Then I came back to work here.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12- It's exquisite ham. Could I buy a couple of slices?- Sure.
0:06:12 > 0:06:18What would you recommend in Corsican food to somebody that doesn't know it?
0:06:18 > 0:06:22The best you find in charcuterie and cheese, of course.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25- Le brebis.- Goat. Goat cheese.
0:06:25 > 0:06:30And sheep cheese. It's typical to Corsica.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34- Is that all right like this? - That's perfect. Merci.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37All I need is some bread now.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39Sorry, we don't make bread.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46I didn't realise that the creator of nonsense verse, Edward Lear,
0:06:46 > 0:06:51put Corsica on the British tourist map some 150 years ago.
0:06:51 > 0:06:57This is a very important spot because it's almost identical to an illustration Edward Lear did
0:06:57 > 0:07:02of Bastia in his book, Journal Of A Landscape Painter.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06It's about a trip he made to Corsica in the 1860s.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10Lear opened up the interior of Corsica to tourism.
0:07:10 > 0:07:17I like to think that The Owl And The Pussycat, which he wrote about the same time, was about Corsica.
0:07:17 > 0:07:23It goes, "They sailed away for a year and a day in a beautiful pea-green boat."
0:07:23 > 0:07:29It goes on, "There in a wood a piggy-wig stood with a ring at the end of his nose."
0:07:29 > 0:07:35That would refer to the excellent charcuterie that Lear would have found everywhere he travelled.
0:07:35 > 0:07:43Lear was an endearingly shy and whimsical man and embarrassed about his bouts of epilepsy,
0:07:43 > 0:07:48so he was astonished by the warmth of his reception everywhere he went -
0:07:48 > 0:07:54until he discovered that his Albanian servant was referring to him
0:07:54 > 0:07:57as the British Finance Minister.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04If I'd come by sailing boat, I wouldn't even be halfway here.
0:08:04 > 0:08:11Having the Land Rover is really helpful because Corsica is the most mountainous, rugged, wooded island
0:08:11 > 0:08:14in the whole of the Mediterranean.
0:08:14 > 0:08:21When I saw that silky pink light on the barge, I was thinking of palm trees and vineyards.
0:08:21 > 0:08:28This is like driving through the Highlands of Scotland, but here there are goats munching the maquis.
0:08:28 > 0:08:35Once you've tasted a leg of roast kid, it's a food memory locked into that special place in your mind.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39At home, goat or kid is nigh-on impossible to find.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43Farmers' markets would do well to consider selling it.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45Terrible turning circle on these things!
0:08:46 > 0:08:49'Anyway, I'm meeting Vincent Tabarani.'
0:08:49 > 0:08:51- Bonjour.- Bonjour.
0:08:51 > 0:08:58'He's the Delia Smith of Corsica and he runs a school which the local TV televise Saturday mornings.
0:08:58 > 0:09:04'Because the population here are so proud of anything to do with Corsica, it's very popular.
0:09:04 > 0:09:10'He's cooking a lunch made of roast kid, lamb, figs and roasted tomatoes.'
0:09:10 > 0:09:18I hate to say this as a writer of cookery books, but there is no substitute for being here,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21just to see this dish being prepared.
0:09:21 > 0:09:28If I was going through a recipe book for a confit of milk-fed lamb, I might have flicked past it
0:09:28 > 0:09:32because it would have been boring,
0:09:32 > 0:09:36but to see Vincent's enthusiasm for the raw materials and to be in this cookery school,
0:09:36 > 0:09:39it's a great advertisement for cookery schools.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43They're all really getting stuck in and it's clear what's going on.
0:09:43 > 0:09:50To just watch the way he's cooking these little gigots of kid and the way that he wrapped them
0:09:50 > 0:09:55in caul fat, in crepinette, just to keep them nice and moist
0:09:55 > 0:09:59and the way it was roasted very delicately
0:09:59 > 0:10:03and a nice gravy made with the bones and bits and bobs with wine.
0:10:03 > 0:10:11It's good fun being with him and picking up on what he's saying. Also, how interested they are.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14And I love these Coco Rose. Oh, yes.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19Just cooked with a bit of onion and romarin - perfect.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23I mean, all the ingredients go together so well.
0:10:23 > 0:10:29Alors, la typicite de la cuisine corse, c'est une cuisine du terroir.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32C'est la montagne.
0:10:32 > 0:10:38'What Vincent said is it's extremely pastoral, the cooking of Corsica,
0:10:38 > 0:10:44'and it's based on what shepherds would have cooked - legs of kid or milk-fed lamb,
0:10:44 > 0:10:49'and these simple beans are a very obvious addition.
0:10:49 > 0:10:55'And they came from Africa, the pulses, years and years ago, bought in to the local cuisine,
0:10:55 > 0:11:00'but it's pastoral cooking and that's what I find really exciting.'
0:11:00 > 0:11:05I just really like very simple, basic food like this,
0:11:05 > 0:11:11which relies on the specific taste of local ingredients. That's what it's all about.
0:11:11 > 0:11:18Roasted kid and knuckles of lamb with wine cooked with wild herbs is a really good idea for lunch.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22The meat doesn't need anything added to it
0:11:22 > 0:11:27as it's full of flavour from what the animals eat on the mountainside.
0:11:27 > 0:11:33And then the roasted tomatoes and figs. I've never had them cooked like this before.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38Vincent wanted me to taste a little bit of the isle of Corsica.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40Et voila!
0:11:40 > 0:11:47When I first came to Corsica, I was looking for seafood and I was a little bit disappointed.
0:11:47 > 0:11:54But I've learnt that Corsicans are really involved in food from the land, from the mountains.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58I just have to say this is perfect food for me.
0:11:58 > 0:12:03I like simple cooking that reflects the region which it comes from.
0:12:03 > 0:12:10There is as much subtlety in this food, in fact more than any Michelin-starred restaurants.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13This food speaks of the country. Fantastic.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18- Merci.- Merci beaucoup a vous. - En Corse on dit "salute".- Salute!
0:12:20 > 0:12:24'This is the centre of Bastia and this is why it's called Bastia -
0:12:24 > 0:12:32'a bastion - and whenever the town was threatened, this is where the townspeople came for protection.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36'I met a party of schoolchildren on a history tour
0:12:36 > 0:12:40'and asked them what their favourite Corsican dishes were.'
0:12:40 > 0:12:45Le meilleur plat de Corse, c'est un poulet et les figatelli.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47- Celine?- La coppa.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51- Figatelli.- Maxime?- Les frappes.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54- Les frappes. Francois?- Figatelli.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58- Et Remy?- Les canistrelli. - C'est bon.
0:12:58 > 0:13:05Fantastic. I just wonder if you asked the same question of a group of British children,
0:13:05 > 0:13:11very difficult thing to ask, I'm not rubbing people's noses in it,
0:13:11 > 0:13:19but these kids know their dishes so well and it's what I'd suspect they would choose, not burgers and chips.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21- Goodbye.- Bye-bye.
0:13:21 > 0:13:27Most of the children said they really liked figatelli, Corsican sausages,
0:13:27 > 0:13:34and here in Murato, famous for its charcuterie, the best are made from the Corsican black pig.
0:13:34 > 0:13:40The flesh is gamier and more suited to these strong flavoured sausages.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44Pascal Fleury farms his own because he says farming your own pigs
0:13:44 > 0:13:49is the start for the business of making charcuterie to be proud of.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53And this is it - the famous figatelli.
0:13:53 > 0:13:58It's made with bloody offal - notably, the heart, the liver,
0:13:58 > 0:14:05the kidneys, the cheek and all those bits that don't tend to turn up on the butcher's slab,
0:14:05 > 0:14:09but what makes them special is they add salt, pepper, red wine
0:14:09 > 0:14:14and then most importantly, they smoke them over chestnut wood
0:14:14 > 0:14:20and you end up with, I think, the best-tasting product on the island myself, too.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24L'important, c'est de faire un produit...
0:14:24 > 0:14:30'He says that the importance of making figatelli is feeding a passion, also improving the product
0:14:30 > 0:14:34'and making something that wins prizes on the island.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38'Here, charcuterie is as important as local politics.'
0:14:38 > 0:14:43Pascal says he is very happy to be making charcuterie products
0:14:43 > 0:14:48because Corsican charcuterie is what Corsica is all about.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52He said he started life as a professional footballer for Bastia,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56but he wasn't strong enough to make the first team.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01He remembered his aunt was a famous producer of charcuterie
0:15:01 > 0:15:04and he just learnt what she was doing.
0:15:04 > 0:15:10Now he is possibly the best maker of charcuterie on the island.
0:15:13 > 0:15:18That evening, I went to the village of Sorio di Tenda to a local festival
0:15:18 > 0:15:21where the figatelli were grilled over a wood fire.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23They'd been cooked like this for centuries,
0:15:23 > 0:15:25but they didn't have pride of place.
0:15:25 > 0:15:32That went to this - pulenda, chestnut flour heated up in water and stirred and stirred
0:15:32 > 0:15:37until it takes on the consistency of, well, fudge, I suppose.
0:15:38 > 0:15:45I've just been watching him. It's quite hard work. He has to do this for about half an hour.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49He's stirring it, but he's also twizzling the, um, "pulendai..."?
0:15:49 > 0:15:55- Pulenda. Pulendaio.- That's the actual baton that he's using.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59I suppose it's like poor people's food
0:15:59 > 0:16:06in the same way as the very similar sounding polenta is the poor people's food to the Italians,
0:16:06 > 0:16:08but it's now more of a social thing.
0:16:08 > 0:16:15'So when it's stirred enough, it's celebrated - rather like the piping in of the haggis.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22'But to me... Well, I wasn't in a tremendous rush to try it.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26'I was fascinated to see that once it had cooled down,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29'it was cut by string tied to this man's finger.
0:16:29 > 0:16:34'A Corsican moves in mysterious ways, I feel.'
0:16:38 > 0:16:41THEY SING A CORSICAN FOLK SONG
0:16:52 > 0:16:55Hmm. Interesting.
0:16:55 > 0:17:01I don't know whether I like it so much on its own. It does taste very chestnutty.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05But with a figatellu - that's a single sausage - it goes very well.
0:17:05 > 0:17:12The smoky taste and the chestnut taste just reminds you of Corsican forests.
0:17:22 > 0:17:29Well, I won't be cooking that back in Padstow, but I do feel really strongly about this -
0:17:29 > 0:17:32my little interpretation of Corsica.
0:17:33 > 0:17:39Of all the islands in the Mediterranean, Corsica is about forests and mountains
0:17:39 > 0:17:44and in winter, it gets really cold. So this dish really reflects it.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49We've got wild boar, wild mushrooms, we've got figatellu, of course.
0:17:49 > 0:17:55You can't get it in the UK, so I've had to use chorizo instead.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59The other thing about this dish is chestnuts.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03I'll finish off with chestnuts thrown in at the end.
0:18:03 > 0:18:08I suppose they would be the food symbol of the island of Corsica.
0:18:12 > 0:18:19This is my dish, but I wouldn't mind guessing that there are similar dishes all over Corsica.
0:18:19 > 0:18:24It's using all those very distinctive flavours.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27I came up with the idea at that village
0:18:27 > 0:18:32when they were celebrating all those foods of the area.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37For me as a cook, it's important to use the local ingredients
0:18:37 > 0:18:39and come up with a dish.
0:18:39 > 0:18:44It sets a picture of the dish and the country in my mind.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48Having marinated it all in red wine for 24 hours,
0:18:48 > 0:18:53I drain it off and fry the wild boar to brown the meat.
0:18:53 > 0:19:00I'm putting the pork in two batches, otherwise it will boil in its own juice, rather than caramelise.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04Now, if I was still in Bastia, I'd be putting in figatelli,
0:19:04 > 0:19:08but as I couldn't find it, I'm using chorizo.
0:19:08 > 0:19:13Corsicans watching this will be most indignant, I'm sure.
0:19:13 > 0:19:19Now, a spoonful or two of tomato puree and flour to thicken the stew and that will absorb some fat.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23This is a new-look me - no measured amounts of flour,
0:19:23 > 0:19:30learnt from mothers and grandmothers all over the Mediterranean. Just bung it all in!
0:19:30 > 0:19:37Next, vermouth - it's got a really herby flavour - and the residue of the red wine marinade.
0:19:37 > 0:19:42It's so important to really sear meat when you're making a stew.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45The Corsicans stew everything.
0:19:45 > 0:19:52Somebody rather jokingly said, "They'd stew their grandmother if you gave them half a chance."
0:19:52 > 0:19:55That was the jokey implication.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59But it's really lovely and velvety now.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04And the colour is so good when you really caramelise the meat.
0:20:05 > 0:20:11I put in some dried porcini mushrooms for a woodland flavour and home-made beef stock.
0:20:11 > 0:20:17I season this well. It's a rich dish - comforting autumnal food, I'd say,
0:20:17 > 0:20:23perfect for when the wind is whistling through the maquis in the back end of October.
0:20:23 > 0:20:28I cover now and gently simmer for an hour to an hour and a half,
0:20:28 > 0:20:34then add some fresh mushrooms and chanterelles, then put in the essence of Corsica - chestnuts.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39These come from a tin and I'm pleased they did, too,
0:20:39 > 0:20:44as it would take longer to peel them than cook this entire dish!
0:20:44 > 0:20:50I add chopped parsley, cook for ten minutes and serve with a good chunky pasta like penne.
0:20:50 > 0:20:55After all, Corsica has many strong links with Italy.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00A deep local red like Patrimonio would be a very welcome addition.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02Bon appetit!
0:21:02 > 0:21:05BRASS BAND MUSIC
0:21:10 > 0:21:14France, as we all know, is famous for its food festivals.
0:21:14 > 0:21:20Every village, it seems, has one culinary item they celebrate each year.
0:21:20 > 0:21:27This is Venaco, right in the middle of the island, and today is cheese day,
0:21:27 > 0:21:33a celebration of Corsican cheeses and all things these people hold dear to their hearts,
0:21:33 > 0:21:38like beignets, deep-fried doughnuts. The Corsicans are crazy for them.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47Balzac, the French writer and serious gourmand, thought that Corsica was the back of beyond,
0:21:47 > 0:21:52but today really does reflect part of their character,
0:21:52 > 0:21:57which is fiercely independent and totally tied to the landscape.
0:21:57 > 0:22:02These people aren't so much farmers, more like hunter-gatherers
0:22:02 > 0:22:07where free-range animals live alongside free-range people.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11The President of the Cheesemakers is Jean Sansonetti.
0:22:11 > 0:22:16In the rest of France, are Corsican cheeses high in...?
0:22:16 > 0:22:20Everybody says that France is a cheese country.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23There are 200 cheeses.
0:22:23 > 0:22:31But Corsica was a country where the shepherds were the most important people
0:22:31 > 0:22:39of their village because they had the capability to give everybody something to eat.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43I was just told a couple of days ago by a shepherd here
0:22:43 > 0:22:49that 20 years ago, being a shepherd was regarded as the lowest of the low.
0:22:49 > 0:22:56They had been the most important person in the village, but had slipped in estimation.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01Since then, because of the growth of the Slow Food Movement and interest in food generally,
0:23:01 > 0:23:07the idea of being an artisan craftsman making goat's or sheep's milk cheese in Corsica
0:23:07 > 0:23:15has caught on with the trendy set in Paris and people are selling their "appartements" in Paris
0:23:15 > 0:23:19and coming here, buying a smallholding and making cheese!
0:23:25 > 0:23:30'The little town of Lama is famous for its brebis cheese.
0:23:30 > 0:23:36'That's a generic term for ewe's milk cheese, rather like "chevre" means "made from goat's milk".
0:23:36 > 0:23:42'It's got a sweet and nutty flavour. I've never seen it in a British supermarket.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47'Mind you, I've never seen a good Cheddar in a French supermarket!
0:23:47 > 0:23:52'I've come to meet a shepherd, not a Johnny-come-lately from Paris,
0:23:52 > 0:23:56'he was born here and kept on the farming tradition -
0:23:56 > 0:23:58'Jean-Francois Sammarcelli.
0:23:58 > 0:24:05'He was too busy to go to the cheese festival, as he milks his sheep twice a day
0:24:05 > 0:24:11'and has no-one, apart from his wife Anne, to help him make a few dozen cheeses every morning.'
0:24:11 > 0:24:16- Normalement?- La machine. C'est plus propre. C'est moins fatiguant.
0:24:16 > 0:24:22What Jean-Francois was saying and I was just, while he was talking to me,
0:24:22 > 0:24:29noticing how quick they're milking and how little amount of milk comes from each sheep.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32It's really hard-won sheep's milk.
0:24:32 > 0:24:38Not like cows. I was brought up on a farm and there was lots of milk in a cow.
0:24:38 > 0:24:44I was just asking him about the importance of the shepherds in Corsica.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48He said shepherds really are the landscape of Corsica.
0:24:48 > 0:24:53He's carrying on the same tradition as his grandfather and his father.
0:24:53 > 0:25:00It's a bit easier with modern milking equipment, but otherwise it's essentially the same.
0:25:00 > 0:25:07I feel privileged to be watching this. He's a true artisan. I can't wait to taste his brebis cheese.
0:25:07 > 0:25:12Jean-Francois was saying earlier on about the flavour of the milk,
0:25:12 > 0:25:16how it comes from the maquis, the wild herbs and bushes
0:25:16 > 0:25:20that the sheep graze on up here in the hills.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24It changes, depending on where you are on the mountain.
0:25:24 > 0:25:31Here we've got things like cistus, heather, oak, wild pear over there and myrtle.
0:25:31 > 0:25:36Further down the mountain, we have various wild mints, rosemary, thyme
0:25:36 > 0:25:42and that's what makes the ewe's milk so special and the flavour of that brebis cheese so unique.
0:25:46 > 0:25:54Anne makes the cheese. She comes from a neighbouring village and has brought her own expertise to Lama.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59After a month, the cheese tastes mild and delicate,
0:25:59 > 0:26:04but it's fully mature at four months when it's tangy and nutty.
0:26:04 > 0:26:12And now the bit I've been waiting for as I had to get up before breakfast to attend the milking.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14This is about two months old.
0:26:14 > 0:26:19It's everything I expected - utterly delicious, very tangy.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24It's got a unique flavour. I can almost taste the maquis in there.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27This is perfect artisan produce.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31To my mind, Corsican cheeses are some of the best in France.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45Well, I must say that was a fantastic day with Jean-Francois and Anne.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49But one thing he was saying, which made me rather depressed,
0:26:49 > 0:26:56was a lot of people are buying milk from the mainland, bringing it over on the ferry
0:26:56 > 0:27:00and making cheese over here and calling it Corsican cheese.
0:27:00 > 0:27:07It reminds me, a few years ago, I was talking to a large supermarket about Cornish dairy ice cream.
0:27:07 > 0:27:14They had done a survey of about 20 ice creams and only one had Cornish dairy produce in it.
0:27:14 > 0:27:20It's so tacky! Anyway, long live Jean-Francois and Anne and their beautiful cheese.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30I suppose my perception of Corsica was of a hot Mediterranean island -
0:27:30 > 0:27:34lovely sandy beaches, seafood and that sort of thing.
0:27:34 > 0:27:40So it came as a surprise to discover that seafood is quite rare.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43It's quite hard to find good seafood.
0:27:43 > 0:27:50It's all about mountain cookery. The really good food here is the simple stuff high in the hills.
0:27:50 > 0:27:55The reason is summed up by this place - the Citadel.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59This is where the locals in Bastia would come to for refuge
0:27:59 > 0:28:05when the sails were on the horizon and the Barbary pirates were coming to town,
0:28:05 > 0:28:07but worse still was malaria.
0:28:07 > 0:28:12There were swamps all the way round, so people lived inland.
0:28:12 > 0:28:18And the malaria was only cleared up in the Second World War by the Americans,
0:28:18 > 0:28:25so really it's a food about saucissons, hams and chestnut flour - all mountain stuff.
0:28:29 > 0:28:36But I had to find some fish. A week cannot go by without fish or shellfish.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40One of the local people helping us to make this programme
0:28:40 > 0:28:44suggested I come to the fishing village of Erbalunga.
0:28:44 > 0:28:49It's had its fair share of rape and pillage, judging by the battlements,
0:28:49 > 0:28:55but I suspect its fishing days are long over and it's a backdrop for wealthy tourists to eat seafood.
0:28:55 > 0:29:03This fish is a dentex, named because of its sharp teeth, which it uses to crunch up shellfish,
0:29:03 > 0:29:07which goes a long way to give it its flavour.
0:29:07 > 0:29:13It's one of the best fish in the Mediterranean. It's got a lovely, firm, sweet flesh.
0:29:13 > 0:29:19This would have been cooked for 15 to 20 minutes with lemon and olive oil and cost an arm and a leg.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22No wonder the Corsicans don't eat much seafood!
0:29:24 > 0:29:29- Monsieur...- Merci.- Je vous en prie. Bon appetit.- Merci.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35Beautiful flavour.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39The waiter just said it's like sea bass, only better.
0:29:39 > 0:29:47There's a similar fish in Australia called the silver trevally, which is also very good. Absolutely superb.
0:29:47 > 0:29:52You can't get dentex back in the UK, but you can get gilthead bream,
0:29:52 > 0:29:56another great Mediterranean fish and, I think, just as good.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01Still on the subject of fishing,
0:30:01 > 0:30:05I really wanted to go out on a boat to see how difficult it's become
0:30:05 > 0:30:08to get a living out of the Mediterranean.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13I always love this moment.
0:30:13 > 0:30:18When the net's on the way in, it's just the sense of anticipation.
0:30:18 > 0:30:24What's great for me is I've never been on a fishing boat in the Mediterranean,
0:30:24 > 0:30:31so I'm looking forward to different types of fish to things like sole, turbot, monk that we get,
0:30:31 > 0:30:35but they've caught one monkfish and are hoping to catch some more.
0:30:35 > 0:30:42They're also hoping to catch some langoustes - Mediterranean lobster - so we will see.
0:30:46 > 0:30:51This is like a millpond. It's not like the fishing back home, where you can hardly stand.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54And this is a great fish.
0:30:54 > 0:31:01It's from the tuna family. It's a bonito. They're really good grilled and served with a mustard sauce.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05Like mackerel, they're best eaten sparkling fresh
0:31:05 > 0:31:11and the fishermen said even a thunderstorm can change their flavour.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14Ah, now, that's better. That's a little langouste.
0:31:14 > 0:31:21But they also told me that in the '60s and '70s, these langoustes were really plentiful
0:31:21 > 0:31:27and could be caught 40 or 50 yards from the shore. Not any more.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31- La peche est bonne? - Non, pas terrible. Pas terrible.
0:31:31 > 0:31:36C'est... Il y a beaucoup de plancton.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39Donc le filet peche mal.
0:31:39 > 0:31:44He's just saying that there's a lot of plankton that settle in...
0:31:44 > 0:31:47- La boue.- Je comprends, oui.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51A lot of plankton... I've seen it in the net.
0:31:51 > 0:31:58It settles on the net until the fish... It makes the net look opaque, so they can see it
0:31:58 > 0:32:02and they swim away from it, so it's not good fishing.
0:32:02 > 0:32:07It just makes me laugh because whenever you talk to a fisherman,
0:32:07 > 0:32:10there's always some reason why they're not catching fish. The world over.
0:32:12 > 0:32:20It's such a beautiful still life, a "nature morte", as the French say, of Mediterranean fish,
0:32:20 > 0:32:22so different to our own.
0:32:22 > 0:32:29They were fishing for a couple of hours. It's not a bad catch. A lot of this fish fetches good money.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38This is Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica,
0:32:38 > 0:32:41famous as being the birthplace of Napoleon.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47There's a continual flow of tourists here,
0:32:47 > 0:32:51who make a beeline for the house where he grew up.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55His family were bourgeois, originating from Italian nobility.
0:32:55 > 0:33:01His father, a lawyer, represented Corsica at court in Paris.
0:33:01 > 0:33:05Napoleon coined the adage, "An army marches on its stomach,"
0:33:05 > 0:33:12and he put food in tins on a large scale because it was a convenient way to feed his troops on campaigns.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18This was his garden where he'd play with his tin soldiers, no doubt,
0:33:18 > 0:33:25and maybe consider conquering half of Europe with a bit of North Africa thrown in, as you do.
0:33:29 > 0:33:31I mentioned Edward Lear earlier.
0:33:31 > 0:33:38When he first sailed to Ajaccio, he thought he could see lots of pretty beach huts lining the shore,
0:33:38 > 0:33:42only later to find out they were family tombs,
0:33:42 > 0:33:48one of which now bears the name of Corsica's other favourite son, opera singer Tino Rossi.
0:33:48 > 0:33:56Jean Verreau is a chef and restaurateur whose dream would have been to serve the Emperor
0:33:56 > 0:34:00and the opera singer his signature dish - langouste with pasta.
0:34:00 > 0:34:05Before he became a cook, he ran a discotheque, just as I did.
0:34:11 > 0:34:16His restaurants are always full, with customers coming back time and time again
0:34:16 > 0:34:23for langoustes, which we call spiny lobsters, and pasta served with a really rich sauce.
0:34:23 > 0:34:30It's like a strong fish soup with loads of tomatoes, chilli and cinnamon and flamed with brandy.
0:34:30 > 0:34:36The spiny lobsters are halved and left to cook in this sauce for about 15 minutes
0:34:36 > 0:34:40and it's just one man cooking it all.
0:34:40 > 0:34:45I've got nine cooks at any given time in my restaurant.
0:34:45 > 0:34:50Food for thought, I think! Jean Verreau made the sauce before I arrived
0:34:50 > 0:34:57and was a bit cagey about giving the recipes away, but it's his only dish and who can blame him?
0:35:00 > 0:35:04The closeness to Italy in Corsica's history is reflected in this dish
0:35:04 > 0:35:09with its intense flavour of garlic and tomatoes,
0:35:09 > 0:35:17except that I can't help but feel the Italians might just have been a bit more subtle than this.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20The sauce wins the day here and not the lobster
0:35:20 > 0:35:26which I feel is the wrong way round, but when in Rome, hey, and I loved it.
0:35:26 > 0:35:31I met up with Rolli Lucarotti who suggested we filmed here.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35She wrote the first Corsican cookery book in English.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38This is not just for the two of us!
0:35:39 > 0:35:43It's such a good idea just having one special dish
0:35:43 > 0:35:48and just cooking that and the world beats a path to your door.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51I think it's brilliant.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54But I think the cooking is very gutsy.
0:35:54 > 0:35:58I don't know if you've noticed, this is quite spicy.
0:35:58 > 0:36:03- Yeah.- There's nothing insipid about Corsican food.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06It's very Mediterranean, it's very colourful.
0:36:06 > 0:36:11The taste is very colourful, which is what I love about it.
0:36:11 > 0:36:17When I came here first, it was difficult to find Corsican food in restaurants.
0:36:17 > 0:36:22They were almost ashamed of it. They sold pizzas and steaks and chips.
0:36:22 > 0:36:27The only Corsican food was in the family. It was passed down from mother to daughter
0:36:27 > 0:36:32or from father to daughter, because the men cook here as well.
0:36:32 > 0:36:37They're very passionate cooks, which is interesting.
0:36:37 > 0:36:44- So they don't regard it as being... - Absolutely not. In Corsica, the men do love cooking as well.
0:36:44 > 0:36:51I've heard impassioned arguments in bars from men saying, "I never put anchovy in my sauce,"
0:36:51 > 0:36:55the other one saying, "Yes, I do." Everybody's interested in food here.
0:36:55 > 0:37:02There was one man cooking and one waitress serving for at least 60 people that night.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05Now, that is real profit.
0:37:16 > 0:37:21And so to Bonifacio, my departure point from Corsica to Sardinia,
0:37:21 > 0:37:26on a really blustery day when I hope the ferry will be cancelled
0:37:26 > 0:37:31and I can have my last lingering shot at this robust Corsican food,
0:37:31 > 0:37:36but it wasn't to be. These ferrymen are made of tough stuff.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41I'm fairly certain that in The Odyssey, this is the spot
0:37:41 > 0:37:48where the giants, Laestrygonians, were raining boulders down on Odysseus and his crew.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52In this rough weather, I can imagine the feeling
0:37:52 > 0:37:59of having a load of large limestone boulders crashing down on to your deck. It would be very scary.
0:38:03 > 0:38:08Marcella Hazan has written something about Italian cooking
0:38:08 > 0:38:12which I think is entirely appropriate.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14"In the relationship of its parts,
0:38:14 > 0:38:20"the pattern of a complete Italian meal is very like that of a civilised life.
0:38:20 > 0:38:25"No dish overwhelms another, either in quantity or in flavour.
0:38:25 > 0:38:30"Each leaves room for new appeals to the eye and palate.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34"Each fresh sensation of taste, colour and texture interlaces
0:38:34 > 0:38:38"with a lingering recollection of the last.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42"To make time to eat as the Italians still do
0:38:42 > 0:38:49"is to share in their inexhaustible gift for making art out of life."
0:38:57 > 0:39:02I was so pleased that it was only ten miles or so between one country and another.
0:39:02 > 0:39:09So it's goodbye cafe au lait and Napoleon Bonaparte and hello, cappuccino and Garibaldi!
0:39:12 > 0:39:20A few thoughts on leaving Corsica, where cheese and charcuterie were kings, strong flavours and stews,
0:39:20 > 0:39:22chestnuts and sausages,
0:39:22 > 0:39:29to Sardinia which gave its name to the silvery fish because sardines were in abundance around its shores.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34I was looking forward to tomatoes, pasta,
0:39:34 > 0:39:36sheep cheese, lovely wines.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40I thought, "How different is this gonna be?"
0:39:40 > 0:39:45But that's what I really like about a ferry journey. It really stirs up your imagination.
0:39:49 > 0:39:54That was a bit startling. I think it said, "Tourists, remember, you're not in Italy."
0:39:54 > 0:39:58Not exactly a very wonderful welcome.
0:39:58 > 0:40:04I suppose it's a bit like in Scotland you see, "English, go home."
0:40:04 > 0:40:08Or in Monty Python's Life Of Brian, "Romans, go home."
0:40:08 > 0:40:12Do they still kidnap tourists here? I don't know.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18Now, you may think I'm odd,
0:40:18 > 0:40:24but the main reason for going anywhere is to find some particular food or drink.
0:40:24 > 0:40:30The main reason for going to Marseille for me was to find the perfect bouillabaisse
0:40:30 > 0:40:37and the main reason for me to come to Sardinia has been to find the source of Vermentino.
0:40:37 > 0:40:42It's one of the best white wines of Italy, famous all over Italy,
0:40:42 > 0:40:47and the reason, I think, apart from a little bit of oak in the wine,
0:40:47 > 0:40:51is the vines really have to fight to gain nutrients
0:40:51 > 0:40:55out of this really harsh soil, this granite soil.
0:40:55 > 0:41:02That's what it's all about. It's about those vines finding their way down into the granite chippings
0:41:02 > 0:41:08that gives this its precise, minerally flavour which I find so enchanting.
0:41:08 > 0:41:15This area in the north of Sardinia is one of the largest producers of cork for the wine industry.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18Forests of cork trees line the road.
0:41:18 > 0:41:23They remind me of clipped poodles where the bark is stripped away,
0:41:23 > 0:41:29but the march of the screw cap and plastic corks is getting stronger.
0:41:29 > 0:41:36Even my friends in the food and drink business are singing the praises of the screw cap over cork,
0:41:36 > 0:41:43so where does that leave a small family business like that of Marco Pasella?
0:41:43 > 0:41:47Very important for us, for my family, for my factory.
0:41:47 > 0:41:53Very, very important because it is my life, the life of the town.
0:41:53 > 0:41:58I can't help feeling that I'm watching something from an archive.
0:41:58 > 0:42:05In ten years' time, this could be a cork museum with old machines being run as a tourist attraction.
0:42:05 > 0:42:11But I think that if you want a mature, fine wine for any length of time,
0:42:11 > 0:42:15no-one has come up with anything better than cork.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19Because in the big wine, Italian big wine,
0:42:19 > 0:42:24there is the cork for 20, 25 years, 50...50 years.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28And only of the cork, this material.
0:42:28 > 0:42:35I find this so interesting because myself and my colleagues and everybody I know
0:42:35 > 0:42:39is into the whole idea of slow food and naturalness of food,
0:42:39 > 0:42:45but when it comes to corks, most people say, "No, we don't want corky wine.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49"We only want a perfect bottle every time."
0:42:49 > 0:42:53But haven't we got double standards in this respect?
0:42:53 > 0:42:57In the same voice, we say, "No, we don't want to go to the supermarket
0:42:57 > 0:43:04"and get uniform green and red peppers or apples that all look rosy and round,"
0:43:04 > 0:43:11yet here's a guy that's providing us with exactly what we want as slow food lovers
0:43:11 > 0:43:15and we turn round and say, "Give us a plastic cork."
0:43:23 > 0:43:26I'll be seeing one of my favourite Italian cheeses being made
0:43:26 > 0:43:31and the best is produced by shepherds in the hills - pecorino.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35That comes from "pecora" which means "sheep".
0:43:35 > 0:43:41When it comes to shearing, the shepherds help each other by going from farm to farm.
0:43:41 > 0:43:47It's as if I'm stepping back in time, but it's like that a lot in Sardinia,
0:43:47 > 0:43:50but not on the Costa Esmeralda.
0:43:50 > 0:43:55Lussorio Puggioni is heating up the sheep's milk, putting in rennet and leaving it for a while
0:43:55 > 0:43:59before the next stage of separating the whey.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03It doesn't take long for the milk to set and form curds.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11DOG GROWLS AND MEN LAUGH
0:44:12 > 0:44:18I was brought up on a farm, but they gave up using these clippers in about 1958.
0:44:18 > 0:44:23I remember one of the chaps on the farm called Charlie.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26My eldest brother was being naughty and he pinched him
0:44:26 > 0:44:32and he pinched him so hard that he actually pinched through his shorts
0:44:32 > 0:44:37because his hands were so strong from working the clippers.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44I'm just thinking this is a basic "how to make cheese" lesson,
0:44:44 > 0:44:49but I've been in enormous factories wearing hair nets and white coats
0:44:49 > 0:44:54and I must say I know which cheese I would prefer to eat.
0:44:54 > 0:44:58I just love this. It's stirred with a branch.
0:44:58 > 0:45:03It cuts up the curds absolutely perfectly.
0:45:03 > 0:45:08I've said this before, but I'm always mesmerised by people doing things with their hands
0:45:08 > 0:45:14with extreme expertise. I could watch him for ever. It's so relaxing.
0:45:15 > 0:45:21There's nothing new in cheese-making. It's an age-old way of preserving milk,
0:45:21 > 0:45:27which goes back 10,000 years when sheep and goats were first domesticated and put in herds.
0:45:27 > 0:45:32There's even cave paintings of cheese-making. It's that old.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36HE SPEAKS IN ITALIAN
0:45:36 > 0:45:41He was saying that he just loves making cheese. He's been doing it all his life
0:45:41 > 0:45:45and he loves being in contact with his animals.
0:45:47 > 0:45:52In Britain, in most cheese-making, the whey is probably fed to pigs,
0:45:52 > 0:45:57but here they make a second cheese, ricotta, which means "recooked".
0:45:57 > 0:46:04He's bringing the temperature up again and he'll just gather what's left in the whey to make ricotta.
0:46:04 > 0:46:09Fresh ricotta you must eat within 24 hours. Absolutely delicious.
0:46:09 > 0:46:16I was also noticing that he is so scrupulous in his cleanliness in making this cheese.
0:46:16 > 0:46:23Not only is he so expert, but everything is perfectly clean. He totally understands what he's doing.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27After half an hour, the ricotta is just about ready.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31This is a culinary first for me. We've all had ricotta,
0:46:31 > 0:46:39but I bet very few people have had ricotta that's not 24 hours old, but like 24 seconds old.
0:46:44 > 0:46:49I don't know how to describe it. It's like the best rice pudding you've ever tasted.
0:46:49 > 0:46:57It's creamy and delicate. It doesn't taste like cheese. It just tastes like a lovely pudding.
0:46:57 > 0:47:04That's how they do it. It's the real thing and I'm really pleased to have been there.
0:47:04 > 0:47:10Now I want to cook with the pecorino and I'm going to make a spaghetti carbonara.
0:47:10 > 0:47:16This really hard cheese is perfect for it. The other thing is a good chunk of pancetta.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22Pancetta is very like bacon, of course,
0:47:22 > 0:47:26the subtle difference being that it's cured for longer.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30It's salted and hung up in drying sheds, like Parma ham,
0:47:30 > 0:47:35for longer than bacon and has a more concentrated flavour.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39It's absolutely essential in a load of Italian dishes.
0:47:39 > 0:47:44It gives out a lovely, meaty, salty flavour in the background.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47Just chop it into chunks or lardons
0:47:47 > 0:47:52or, as they say in Italian, cubetti - little cubes.
0:47:54 > 0:48:01One of the things I picked up in Italy, a little tip, is how to open a packet of pasta.
0:48:01 > 0:48:06Don't mess around with the paper or get a knife, just go...
0:48:06 > 0:48:09like that. Macho stuff!
0:48:13 > 0:48:20There's loads of stories as to where carbonara comes from, but the one I like most
0:48:20 > 0:48:25is from the Second World War when all the GIs were over in Rome.
0:48:25 > 0:48:31They had loads of bacon and eggs and the Italians acquired them in a legal or illegal way
0:48:31 > 0:48:36and came up with this dish - bacon, eggs and pasta.
0:48:37 > 0:48:42With the pancetta, I put in about three cloves of chopped garlic,
0:48:42 > 0:48:48a good fistful of parsley and spaghetti, which goes straight into the pan.
0:48:49 > 0:48:56And another little tip I picked up in Italy, they often use a bit of the cooking water of the pasta
0:48:56 > 0:48:59just to make a bit of sauce.
0:49:00 > 0:49:02Perfect.
0:49:02 > 0:49:09Another strong contender for the origins of this dish goes back to the days of charcoal burners
0:49:09 > 0:49:13who worked outside the walls of Rome.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17It's said they cooked bacon, eggs and cheese on their hot shovels,
0:49:17 > 0:49:19hence charcoal, carbon, carbonara.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26This is nearly as popular as spaghetti bolognese,
0:49:26 > 0:49:32but it's much more typical of Italian pasta dishes because it takes no time to make.
0:49:32 > 0:49:37I met this Italian chef not so long ago from Rome who said,
0:49:37 > 0:49:40"Never use Parmesan or cream in carbonara."
0:49:40 > 0:49:45I was a bit embarrassed because I was used to using both.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49I said, "Is it all right to use Sardinian pecorino?"
0:49:49 > 0:49:52"Yeah," he said, "but never cream."
0:49:52 > 0:49:57Next to pecorino in importance in Sardinian food is this.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00What's happening here
0:50:00 > 0:50:07is these very happy and hard-working people are making a thing called pane carasau,
0:50:07 > 0:50:12which literally means "music paper bread".
0:50:12 > 0:50:20The reason it's called "music paper bread" is they first bake the bread like a big pitta,
0:50:20 > 0:50:26then they separate it and bake it a second time until it comes out crisp and crackling,
0:50:26 > 0:50:34a bit like music sheets used to be in the very old days when people played pianos and didn't watch TV.
0:50:34 > 0:50:40I just was trying to find out, as one does, that there is always a reason for food
0:50:40 > 0:50:43and what was the reason for this?
0:50:43 > 0:50:50The point is it keeps for ever. By double-baking it like this, it completely dries out
0:50:50 > 0:50:55and for shepherds up in the high pastures for six, eight weeks,
0:50:55 > 0:51:02they could take something which wouldn't go off and would be perfect from day one to day 71.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06It's early in the morning and I'm starving.
0:51:06 > 0:51:12This is made with freshly chopped tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and salt.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16It doesn't get simpler than that. Perfect bruschetta!
0:51:16 > 0:51:22Bread, tomatoes and olive oil - the most common combination in the Mediterranean.
0:51:22 > 0:51:27I'd be surprised if it ever tasted as good as that again.
0:51:43 > 0:51:48Just before I came away, I was in the pub with a few people I know
0:51:48 > 0:51:54and one of them was asking where I was going and I said, "Corsica and Sardinia."
0:51:54 > 0:52:00They said, "Why both? They're both the same." I thought, "That's a bit of a shame."
0:52:00 > 0:52:05Two weeks into the trip, I say, "There is no way they're the same."
0:52:05 > 0:52:11Corsica is almost one big mountain range and the food reflects that.
0:52:11 > 0:52:15You've got sausage, wild boar, chestnuts.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19Sardinia is much lighter, it's much more fertile -
0:52:19 > 0:52:23tomatoes, olives, wild fennel, myrtle.
0:52:23 > 0:52:29Then I was thinking about them and they just go to those tourist hotels,
0:52:29 > 0:52:34so of course it would seem the same. Cancun would seem the same!
0:52:34 > 0:52:40When I came out of the ferry port in Sardinia, I saw this sign in the tunnel which said,
0:52:40 > 0:52:44"Tourists, remember you are not in Italy."
0:52:44 > 0:52:47Yes, I am in Italy!
0:52:49 > 0:52:53One of the great success stories in Italy is agriturismo.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57It's called "fermes auberges" in France
0:52:57 > 0:53:03and it's geared to tourists really wanting to taste the real food of the countryside.
0:53:03 > 0:53:10People are opening up their farms and inviting strangers to lunch, cooking stuff their grannies made.
0:53:10 > 0:53:15Of course, this business relies a bit on set decoration.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19These cheeses, caciocavallo, do it beautifully.
0:53:19 > 0:53:24I've watched the way he's been roasting these suckling pigs.
0:53:24 > 0:53:29It's about attention to detail. Simple food really requires thought.
0:53:29 > 0:53:35It's just the way he's gently turning them over and putting the myrtle branches on there
0:53:35 > 0:53:41and also basting them with the hot fat, the hot, flaming lardo
0:53:41 > 0:53:47and he says that just gives it that special flavour and I can't wait to try it.
0:53:47 > 0:53:53You don't have any choice of menu. This is typically what you get, suckling pig, which I love.
0:53:53 > 0:54:00Some people would have trouble with these stuffed intestines, but not me.
0:54:00 > 0:54:05It's making me very hungry. The smell is just wonderful.
0:54:05 > 0:54:10This is real grown-up boys' stuff, this, all this meat.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13I can't wait.
0:54:13 > 0:54:18This is a typical Sardinian dish of pork, bacon and chickpeas.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22You've got to have a serious appetite here and this is lovely -
0:54:22 > 0:54:28wild fennel, ricotta and olive oil, pecorino cheese, of course, and local wine.
0:54:28 > 0:54:32And this which is mincemeat in a bolognese type sauce.
0:54:32 > 0:54:37Sugo carne, they call it, and a poached egg - delish!
0:54:37 > 0:54:41And it's served on that music paper bread.
0:54:41 > 0:54:48This is right in the centre of Sardinia. It's not a tourist area and it's May.
0:54:48 > 0:54:55The cuckoos are going cuckoo in the valleys and I feel it's almost like a time of innocence.
0:54:55 > 0:55:01That's the trouble with tourism and that's the trouble with programmes like this.
0:55:01 > 0:55:08You come somewhere like this and have this beautiful food cooked like it's been cooked for centuries
0:55:08 > 0:55:15and you enthuse about it to such an extent, the tourists come along and it's never the same again!
0:55:15 > 0:55:22These people are cooking for themselves. In Sardinia, they're cooking to please Sardinians.
0:55:22 > 0:55:28They're cooking with great love and something about tourism ruins it.
0:55:30 > 0:55:35You don't have to travel very far here to find a village festival.
0:55:35 > 0:55:41This is Loceri and events like this are really good to look for local food.
0:55:41 > 0:55:47The people don't need too much persuasion to dress up. It's a statement of belonging.
0:55:47 > 0:55:54It's like Padstow's May Day where all the locals dress in white with red and blue neckerchiefs.
0:55:54 > 0:55:56SINGS IN ITALIAN
0:56:04 > 0:56:08I'm intrigued by these hortensia, hydrangea leaves.
0:56:08 > 0:56:13The thing is called coccoi de corcoriga which is pumpkin,
0:56:13 > 0:56:18so it's a mixture of pumpkin, flour, lardo - the salt fat -
0:56:18 > 0:56:24mint and olive oil and seasoning. I've never seen anything like it.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30- Vuole saggiare?- Mangiare, si.
0:56:30 > 0:56:33It's OK. Grazie.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40Very nice.
0:56:40 > 0:56:42Very hot!
0:56:42 > 0:56:47- Really good.- Very good. Molto buona.
0:56:49 > 0:56:53David, the director, asked me to join in the dancing.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56My reaction was, "No, I can't do that."
0:56:56 > 0:56:58Not without a couple of beers!
0:56:58 > 0:57:05But nobody's drinking here. They're all really enjoying it and getting stuck into it.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09I think that's testimony to the Italian temperament.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13They're very extrovert and enjoy themselves without booze.
0:57:13 > 0:57:19Some of the girls in there are so showing off like this and it's just lovely.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24LIVELY FOLK MUSIC
0:57:27 > 0:57:30SONG SUNG IN ITALIAN
0:57:30 > 0:57:36This song is about sailing off to America because of the hard times in the past,
0:57:36 > 0:57:42but on a night like this, you can see why so many are coming home.
0:57:42 > 0:57:44# America
0:57:44 > 0:57:47# America
0:57:47 > 0:57:50# America... #
0:57:55 > 0:58:02It started late morning and went on right through without a break till the early hours.
0:58:02 > 0:58:09Nobody became tired and emotional or disgraced themselves and I bet everybody had a wonderful time.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14ANNOUNCEMENT IN ITALIAN
0:58:36 > 0:58:39Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd