Vegetables Galore

One of the greatest joys of the food of the sun is in the raising of vegetable dishes to a high culinary art. It is a process which always starts with the freshest ingredients, for Mediterranean cooks do not need sell-by dates to know when a vegetable is past its best. Watch somebody shopping for food in a Southern Italian market, how they feel and sniff and weigh the produce in their hands before choosing. No cling wrap or expanded polystyrene here to stand between the consumer and the consumable.