I-ATE Food Term of the Week: Ciambotta

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I-ATE Food Term of the Week - Ciambotta

When summer arrives, the explosion of colours, smells and flavours of summer vegetables and fruits follows. This is the time to change our culinary habits after the long winter period. There is no better time than the one spent on a cool morning at any summer resort or city market, walking, observing and choosing the right vegetables to make the dish that we have had in mind for days. If they are km 0, it is even better. Italy, and more specifically the Campania region, helps us enormously with that.

Summer changes the variety of vegetables and fruits available to us and consequently our eating habits. The quintessential summer dish in Campania and other southern Italian regions is the Ciambotta, although the most genuine Neapolitans call it Cianfotta Napulitana. It is a vegetarian delight that makes use of seasonal Mediterranean vegetables.

Etymologically it comes from the French Chabrot. It must have been its use and the phonetic characterization of those from the south (ciambrotta > ciambotta > cianfotta) that gave birth to the Cianfotta Napulitana, a variant that can include beef. Little or nothing remains of the original meaning of the French term Chabrot, which corresponds to the French Occitanic (southwest) custom of adding wine to the plate with the rest of the soup, bringing the rim of the plate to the lips and drinking it in large sips.

For its part, the online Italian dictionary Treccani does not include the term ciambotta, so it can be inferred that it is a localism geographically circumscribed to the south of the Italian peninsula. At a linguistic level, varieties of the dish are distinguished by adding the adjective corresponding to the region of origin to the term Ciambotta. In this way, the phrases Ciambotta Lucana, Ciambotta Beneventana, Ciambotta Irpina, Ciambotta Cilentana, and Ciambotta Calabrese or Pugliese come into existence. However, in other more southern regions, such as Sicily, this dish is known as Caponata, although an ingredient (usually aubergine) prevails in this variety.

As can be inferred, each region and family has its own variant and recipe. It is difficult to go back to its origin, however, as it occurs for the most exquisite dishes, it was born in poor environments, probably from farmers.

How is the ciambotta prepared?

Basically, it is a vegetable stew that is prepared by slowly cooking different types of vegetables, preferably summer vegetables. Vegetables are usually cut into cubes; the size of these pieces will also depend on the variety of Ciambotta one intends to cook.

Here follows the Irpina variant:

Ingredients for 6 servings:

500 gr of very ripe tomato sauce

2 long aubergine

2 yellow peppers

2 medium potatoes

4 courgettes

1 heart of celery

50 gr of pitted green olives

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 red onion

2 cloves of garlic

Basil

Salt to taste.

Pepper as needed.

It is a dish that one can have as appetizer or as main course, depending on the food that one decides to use for its preparation. The Ciambotta is excellent to be served both cold and hot, and like all stews it tastes better the next day; if one lets it rest, the flavours just mix properly.

Beyond the Italian borders, very similar dishes can be found, all located in the Mediterranean area. The French have their famous Ratatouille, the Turks have their Turlu and the Sakşuka (not to be confused with the Shakshuka), the Moroccans have the Zaalouk, the Greeks have their famous Ikaria Soufiko, and the Spanish their Pisto, whichcan be Andalusian or Manchego, or other variants such as the Samfania in the Catalan region, the Tumbet in Mallorca, and the Piperade, a typical dish from the Basque Country.

Buon appetito!


References:

Avellino Zon. 2022. Ciambotta, piatto tipico irpino – Avellino Zon. [ONLINE] Available at: https://avellino.zon.it/ciambotta-piatto-tipico-irpino/. [Accessed 04 October 2022].

Nita Ragoonanan. 2022. Pisto Manchego – Receta Tradicional Española | 196 flavors. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.196flavors.com/es/espana-pisto-manchego/#:~:text=El%20pisto%2C%20com%C3%BAnmente%20conocido%20como,su%20propia%20variante%20y%20receta. [Accessed 04 October 2022].

Nicola Mascotto. 2022. La Ciabbotta o ciambotta – AIFB. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.aifb.it/cultura-enogastronomica-italiana/piatti-tradizione-italiana/giornata-nazionale-della-ciabbotta/. [Accessed 04 October 2022].


Written by María Lucía Carrillo Expósito

PhD in “European Languages and Specialised Terminology” at the University of Naples “Parthenope