In my search for what constitutes Calabrese cuisine, I came across the following on peperoncino which describes one of the key elements. Checking further I found that the Accademio del Peperoncino has a web site. One can join this group (for a fee) and receive a monthly newsletter.
http://www.labnet.it/peperoncino/
Rose Albrizio
Houston, Texas
ONE OF THE MOST colorful sights encountered throughout the Mezzogiorno is that of strings of red chili peppers hanging out to dry in summer, from windows and balconies, on washing lines, spread out on the hoods of cars, nailed to trees in the country. In markets, old women in black sit beside their piles of produce, patiently sewing up strings of chilies with a needle and thread. The peperoncino adds spice and flavor the essentially simple foods of the South, and it is encountered in virtually everything:: added to pasta sauces, ground and used in salumi, preserved in oil or vinegar to eat just so, or dried for a year or more then fried in hot oil until crunchy.. Of course, the smaller the pepper, the hotter it is. Peppers as large as 10 cm. (4 in.) are usually quite sweet and not at all hot. Small, pointed chilies and round cherry chilies, on the other hand, can be devastatingly scorching. But the
hottest of all are the tiniest examples, no more than 2 cm. (less than 1 in.)
long, called diavoletti, which are indeed "little devils," to be eaten at your
peril..
Our Calabrian Heritage:
Though the peperoncino is widely consumed throughout Southern Italy
(traditionally hot countries have developed hot cuisines as a means of cooling
down the body naturally through perspiration), the region most associated with
this fiery foodstuff is Calabria, traditionally one of e poorest of all the
regions. Calabrians learned to utilize the peperoncino extensively their
cuisine in times when there was little to add flavor to foods. Poverty and
unemployment, furthermore, led to a high degree of emigration from Calabria to
other parts of Italy, as well as abroad, especially to the United and South
America. And of course, the Calabrians took their favorite food with them.
Thus, today, the peperoncino has become something of an emotive symbol for
Calabrians throughout the world, inextricably linked not only to its cuisine
but to the very soul of the people.
The Accademia del peperoncino, for example, is an organization with local
chapters around the world which serve primarily as a focus for Calabrian
communities far from home, using the humble but fiery peperoncino as its
rallying standard. In Diamante, a seaside town on Calabria's Riviera del Cedro
(named for the cedro or citron fruit that grows in profusion here), there is
an annual peperoncino festival (first week of September). This serves not only
as an excuse to celebrate the spicy, outrageous power of the chili in all its
myriad manifestations (a different "hot" menu is served each night to the
public) but also as a festival for "hot" or erotic art and satire in whatever
manifestation. And, believe me, much of what is on show is molto piccante
(very spicy) indeed.
Enzo Monaco, the organizer of Diamante's "hot" festival, has a shop selling
an extensive range of peperoncino products, and can supply further information
about both the festival and the Accademia del peperoncino. Centro Gastronomico
Sapore Calabria Via Amendola #3, 87023 Diamante CS tel.: 0985/81130 fax:
0985/87168
from Frommer's Food Lovers Companio to Italy
Marc and Kim Millon, New York 1996