Bon appetitu

Our ferry from the port of Santa Teresa in Sardinia arrived in Bonifacio, Corsica, in about 45 minutes. The view of the island is extraordinary: the spectacular high limestone cliffs with the remains of defence fortresses, turquoise waters of gorgeous beaches… The history of this island is fascinating, but this is not a history blog, so I will only mention the fact that in 1768 it officially became part of France, although it retains a very strong Italian culture. French is the official language but people on the island speak Italian, as well as two Corsican dialects. Birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte, this fourth biggest island of the Mediterranean had its first inhabitants already around 9000 B.C. Throughout the centuries, it had to defend itself from many invaders (hence the countless fortresses) and develop interesting ways of coping with sieges (storage of grains and food, central storage of drinking water, through pipes delivering rainwater from all town areas). As a result of many different cultural influences, the food of Corsica is an interesting mix of primarily Italian and French cuisines. During our short stay, we could not taste all the dishes, but we recommend wholeheartedly the following:

·      Muscles: fresh and abundant, offered by every food establishment. The simples is the best: with white wine, olive oil and parsley.

·      Corsican eggplant: stuffed with meat and cheese.

·      Chestnuts and widely cultivated on the island. We tried the chestnut beer (refreshing in the hot weather, although not too different from the regular beer). But the chestnut cake definitely has a special flavour and we both enjoyed it.

·      The climate in Corsica is conducive to winemaking, and their wines are a must-try. There are about 90 grape varieties and 9 AOC regions on this small island. 55% of wines are rosés (see my entry about the rosé wine).

Bon appetitu! That’s Bon appétit in Corsican.