Judith Schrut goes organic with a farm-to-fork finale in her Eat Puglia series.
Although I loved sampling all that plentiful Puglian seafood, after a few days it felt time to try something completely different. That difference came with our evening meal at Terra Madre Restaurant.
Terra Madre (Italian for Mother Earth) is a bio-organic farm-to-fork restaurant, one of a growing number of such eateries taking Italy’s culinary imagination by storm. It’s set in the traditional trulli village of Alberobello, with the restaurant itself made from four beautifully restored trulli cones. Terra Madre lives by its creed, sowing, growing, harvesting, making and baking all that goes on the dining table; recycling and composting everything from eggshells to coffee grounds.
Cuisine here is simple, making the most of intensely flavoured vegetables and other natural ingredients. Guests are served in cozy, nature-themed alcoves or on the backyard terrace next to gardens in which their meals have been grown. Here, impatient young diners aren’t given paper and crayons but instead are encouraged to play in and pick from the vegetable patch.
For me the real marvel of Terra Madre was the seemingly endless parade of delicious and elegantly presented vegetable dishes on its antipasti menu, along with some mighty tasty local wine. But don’t worry carnivores, traditional meat and pasta courses are available add-ons. They do great cakes and desserts too. After a meal at Terra Madre I promise you’ll never look at an artichoke, beet or carrot the same way.
Trattoria Terra Madre, Piazza Sacramento 17, 70011, Alberobello. More at trattoriaterramadre.it.
Judith ate, drank and enjoyed Puglia as a guest of Headwater Holidays. Further details at headwater.com.
