Three Questions with Tania Pascuzzi of Cooking in Calabria Tours

9 CommentsMonday • November 16, 2009 • by michelle

If you haven’t run into Tania Pascuzzi around the Interwebs yet, let me introduce you.

Tania is an Aussie from Calabrian parents, and she runs InItalyTours.com, which offers a variety of tours throughout the Bel Paese, including several in Calabria–one in particular that you can also read about in Susan Van Allen’s book, 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go.

Wouldn’t this book make a great holiday gift for the Italophile on your list? Get a sneak peek of what Van Allen has to say about Tania’s cooking school in Calabria at Divine Caroline.

Now, as I was exchanging emails with Tania, I found myself wanting to know the answers to questions you may have as well, so I asked Tania if she wouldn’t mind an interview. Enjoy!

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1. What inspired you to come to Tropea/Calabria and start cooking tours?

I had no intention of staying in this region. I had lived and worked in the fashion industry in New York City for 13 years and spent my vacations in Italy.

Somehow I decided I wanted to live in Italy. I took the CELTA course to teach English in Rome and lived there for 6 months but could not tolerate a teaching positon. Just wasn’t me.

I returned to NYC for 6 months and had an idea to create a small business involving tourism. Given that I am from Italian/Calabrian parents, I thought it to be a great idea to focus on food and wine tours. My mother is an amazing cook and having the knowledge of real Italian cuisine behind me, I got the idea to share this with visitors of italy.

I started in Positano and had a plan to start my project there. I had to go to Calabria to apply for my citizenship and was to learn that these things don’t happen overnight so I stayed waiting for months in Calabria. I ventured into the region to find the most amazing places and when I finally visited Tropea , I did some research and noticed that not many tour operators had organized cooking tours there.

I was amazed at the beauty! I am a person who is only influenced by beauty so it really impressed me and at the same time had me question why it was cut off the tourist map. So I decided to stay and do some research. I found a place and given that the people had no idea what a cooking class to foriegners entailed, I spent days teaching the local women on how to organize and teach my potential visitors.

I was in search for cooks: the signore of the town — not chefs because I knew that the local women of the region were the real masters of authentic Calabrese cuisine, not prententious just real people and with a knowledge on how to cook and also grow good healthy food that can cater for all types of food lovers (vegetarians, seafood/meat lovers) and generally people who appreciate good cooking, good wine and good company.

Basically I was inspired by the actual place in that doing up an itinerary for food and wine lovers, it also accommodated for a relaxing vacation, i.e., one where you are not running around visiting museums and churches only to find yourself exhausted and ready for another vacation.

Here we have the beach and beautiful nature, hills and mountains…so many beautiful hidden beaches can be found here to relax on aside from the main beach of Tropea. The area offers good food and wine and a chance to be part of the culture and not just feel like a tourist.

2. What can someone expect from your tours? Do they get secret family recipes?

Our visitors can expect a real experience of the region. Our tours are so personal that by the time our guests leave, they have made wonderful friends in us. We personalize our tours in such a way that one can feel welcome and at home and also get the chance to see undiscovered places within the area that cannot be reached alone. They can also expect to be guided by an English speaker which is a rare find in this region.

We offer cooking classes that really end up being a big festa with plenty of food and wine and knowledge of recipes that our guests can take home with them.

We use local real people from the town who are always delighted to have guests from overseas. I use local women from the area for our cooking classes who have the knowledge from past generations of traditional and authentic recipes. Our guests can expect to make at least 6/8 recipes in just one cooking lesson.

We do our classes in an outdoor kitchen with a woodbrick oven, outdoor grill; even the stove is under the veranda with plenty of wine — a perfect setting during the summer months. We pick fruits and vegetables from the garden and cook many recipes. We then dine under the stars till late in the evening.

As for secret family recipes, yes! During a cooking class we have our guests participate, so they have hands on knowledge and given that Calabrian women rarely measure and weigh their ingredients one gets inside information by the use of the senses…how things feel…watching our cooks work instinctively is an unforgettable experience so by being there you can understand as opposed to reading instructions. We make up a recipe book with all recipes made during a class, but to actually partake is a different experience and one has that to take home with them.

We also take our guests to places that can not be reached by traveling alone. We drive them to beaches that are hard to get to unless you have a car and the knowledge of where they are. They visit food producers of the area  and they also can go fishing  with a local fisherman and cook on the boat from the day’s catch  They also have a wonderful dining experience as I oversee every restaurant in the town and surrounding areas. I am forever trying to create unique excursions, and I drive the locals crazy with my ideas…ha ha ha….

We create our itineraries in such a way as to not bombard our visitors with too much to do. We make sure they can enjoy the beautiful beaches along the coast and at the same time explore areas rarely visited and taste cuisine that is rarely offered even in the local restaurants of the area and to also meet the wonderful people whom we call our close friends in Tropea.

Although most tour operators don’t come here, when I speak to Italians from all over the country, their response to Tropea is always, “Che posto bellissimo!!!” It is the northern Italians themselves who flock to our beaches here in the summer. Hopefully that will catch on with the foreign traveler.

Hopefully, with my small role and given that I live here and am here personally for my visitors, this will change the stereotypical pretense that exists today. What makes our tours special? They are intimate, sweet and special and to add to that they are set in one of the most beautiful beach towns in Italy: a secret jewel, Tropea.

3. What is your favorite aspect of doing tours in Calabria?

I love every aspect. I guess my favorite is having people come to us. I love meeting people and I love that everyone who has been here with us to date has been so amazed and happy with what we do here. That really pleases me. My goal really is achieved when I know that my guests have had a great time with us.

Another aspect that I like is when the season ends, I get to explore and research beautiful areas and things to do for my guests. Calabria is a big region so there is a lot to discover here.

I recently discovered a picturesque town called Aietta which sits above Praia Mare. We are currently doing up an itinerary contadino style: life with real farmers, pastures and locals of the village.

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Thanks so much for answering my questions, Tania! In bocca al lupo!

If you have any questions for Tania, feel free to leave them here or visit her at InItalyTours.com.

[All photos throughout interview text are courtesy of Agnese Sanvito. Photo Antonello, In Italy Tours.]

Posted in: books, food, life in calabria