Southern Italy
region / region-southern-italy
南イタリア
Southern Italy: a group of regions examined in comparison with the north in an ethnobotanical study of wild edible plants.
Photographs (captions in Japanese)
南イタリア・カラブリア州カポ・ヴァティカーノの海岸線と夕景。野生食用植物の比較民族植物学調査で北部との違いが検討される「南イタリア」を代表する地域景観の写真。
現地観測写っているもの: 該当なし（地域景観）部位・状態: 海岸の景観(夕景)
写真: CarlinoNabbo／ CC BY-SA 4.0／ 原画像／ 台帳の原画像
写真の範囲と来歴
被写体の確認: 原典の記載による同定。南イタリアの一地点の景観であり、地域全体を代表するものではない。
掲載画像: Wikimedia Commons の原寸ファイルを sips で長辺2400pxに縮小。苦味研究所では切り抜き・色調変更なし（リサイズのみ）。 表示用には幅1200px上限のWebPを配信し、台帳の原画像は上のリンクから確認できます。
On this page (5 sections)
Reading the bitterness
Southern Italy was among the regions studied in a north–south comparison of how much and in what ways people continue to eat wild edible plants. In an analysis comparing plant citation frequencies across study sites, young wild plants in the daisy and mustard families were cited more often in the south. The authors hypothesized that appreciation of bitterness and strong tastes may be one contributing factor.
The authors themselves carefully limit this hypothesis. The study alone cannot separate the effects of ecological availability, persistence of traditional knowledge, or socioeconomic change. It therefore does not support the simple assertion that 「南イタリアの人は苦味好きだ」 (in translation: "southern Italians like bitter tastes"). It compares frequencies of mentions in interviews, not preferences measured directly by a sensory study.
A 2025 interview study (46 interviews) among the Arbëreshë, an Italo-Albanian minority in inland southern Italy, likewise characterized the most commonly foraged plant families by distinctive bitter, pungent, and aromatic tastes. It reported seven genera absent from a 2000–2001 comparison dataset. The authors suggest that Leontodon (local names Shkoirë/Cikoria) may have entered food culture because of its bitterness.
The same study’s table records leaf whorls as the edible part of Leontodon hispidus. They are sautéed or prepared as an ingredient in soup with wild fennel and pork rind.
Sources for this overview
Checked for this overview: Confirmed the analysis finding that strongly bitter wild plants were cited more often in the south. / Confirmed the authors’ limit that contributing factors cannot be disentangled.
Continuity and Change in the Arbëreshë Wild Food Plant Foraging in Inland Southern Italy
Checked for this overview: The Arbëreshë survey’s account of bitter plant families and newly reported genera. / The record of the edible part and preparation of Leontodon hispidus.
Hypotheses and recipe candidates for this entry are on the Japanese page.
Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits
Culture (3)
Scope: a north–south comparison of survey sites
Note: The author's hypothesis. Plant distribution, the persistence of traditional knowledge, and socioeconomic change cannot be ruled out.
Show data
region-southern-italy —has_hypothesized_role_of_bitterness_as→ "one factor in a preference for continuing to select young Asteraceae wild greens"Scope: A single survey of Ansanto Valley, Avellino Province, Campania (respondents were valley residents). It cannot be generalized to all of southern Italy.
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region-southern-italy —has_documented_traditional_use_as→ "In an ethnobotanical survey in the Ansanto Valley of Irpinia, Avellino Province, Campania, Cichorium intybus was the most frequently cited wild food species (22 food-use reports). Of 51 total citations, it was also recorded in folk-medicinal use for liver cleansing and as a diuretic."Scope: Layer: literature. Comparison of 46 interviews conducted in 2025 (fieldwork) with an existing 2000–2001 dataset.
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region-southern-italy —is_documented_as_having→ "A 2025 ethnobotanical study of the Arbëreshë Italo-Albanian minority in inland southern Italy (46 interviews) found that the most frequently named plant families, including the daisy and mustard families, were characterized by strong bitter, pungent, or aromatic tastes. It newly reported genera absent from 2000–2001 existing data, including Leontodon hispidus, a bitter daisy-family wild plant."