Michael Symon's Favorite Underrated Regional Cuisines

James Beard award-winning chef Michael Symon wants you to consider going to cities in Italy besides Rome or Naples. Although both of those cities come with their own fascinating culinary and cultural heritages, with larger cities come larger crowds, and probably more than a few subpar meals. This is where smaller, overlooked cities shine, sparkling with hidden gems, fewer tourists, and often better access to authentic culinary experiences.

Symon has the street cred to make such bold claims. The chef grew up in a Mediterranean and Eastern European family, at home he ate Italian-American classics like lasagna, which was served every Wednesday night for dinner. At his restaurant Angeline at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City, they serve up a meaty Sunday sauce, burrata with sweet hot peppers, and his mother's lasagna recipe — with 30 layers of pasta, ricotta, and meat sauce, and never with a no-boil noodle. When Symon travels to Italy, he makes sure to stop at smaller cities, like Marsala, in the Sicily and Puglia regions.

Chef Michael Symon visits Puglia, or Apulia, for the food. The region is located on the high heel of Italy's stiletto, bordered by the Adriatic Sea. It's a less famous but just as beautiful part of the country with its own deep, gastronomic traditions and a coastline to rival Amalfi. Here you can find lampascioni, wild onions that grow in the region, preserved in olive oil and vinegar, as well as a fava bean spread served with chicory and olive oil. Puglia is also famous for its cheeses, like burrata, mozzarella, and caciocavallo, as well as its unique pasta shapes. The most famous of these is orecchiette – you can wander through the streets of Bari or Salento and find grannies making it by hand.

Symon pays homage to his Sicilian roots by visiting Marsala, which sits at the western tip of the island. It's often overshadowed by larger cities on the island like Palermo and Syracuse. Marsala is perhaps most famous for its fortified wine, which is used to make the Italian-American classic chicken Marsala. Locally, however, the city and surrounding region are known for its pasta dishes featuring anchovies and sardines, fresh from the sea. Marsala is also famous for its fish couscous.

Chef Michael Symon's favorite underrated food destinations in Italy, Puglia and Sicily, are both found in the south. Southern Italian cuisines are influenced by many factors including the area's proximity to the sea, and settlers and conquerors of the past leaving their marks. Historically, eggs were considered too expensive and hard to come by, so unlike their richer Northern brethren, Pugliese made fresh pasta dough from a simple mix of semolina flour and water, a tradition still widely carried out today.

Sicilian cuisine has been influenced by Arab, Greek, and Spanish cultures, among others. The result is a cuisine that is a fascinating mix of ingredients. Pasta dishes are studded with pine nuts and raisins, balanced by salty anchovies, and pastries like cannoli and sfogliatelle are flecked with dried oranges and raisins in whipped cream or custards.

The two regions and their respective cuisines are often outshone by those further north, like Tuscany or Naples, but they're worthy of further exploration. Alas, Symon's ringing endorsement is much deserved.