Above, from left: Caciocavallo Silano producer Antonio Arnone, Il Calabrese executive chef Luciano Salvadore, Mercato delle Eccellenze Calabresi Giovanni Guido, and presenter Jeremy Parzen.

Taste of Italy 2023 opened with a seminar dedicated to the foods of Calabria. It was led by Mercato delle Eccellenze Calabresi (MEC) founder and director Giovanni Guido. And attendees had the opportunity to taste aged and fresh Caciocavallo (Calabria’s famous stretched-curd cheese) paired with a wide variety of flavors including bergamot-, Clementine orange-, and sardine-chili pastes.

Chef Luciano Salvadore (Il Calabrese, Dallas) and Caciocavallo Silano producer Antonio Arnone (Vallefiore) prepared the small bites as Guido spoke about Calabria’s culinary treasures and his ambitious plans to bring Calabrian-focused retail outlets to the U.S.

Arnone and Guido also spoke about the unique macroclimate of Calabria’s “valley in the sky,” as Parzen put it, the Sila plateau, a region renowned for the high quality of its cheeses and other food products.

The savory finger foods were paired with Nerone di Calabria by winery Criserà, a wine made from Nerello Calabrese grapes.

The sold-out crowd also had the opportunity to taste a range of Calabrian pastries paired with Calabrian-grown coffee.