The typical cuisine of the Salento area, can be considered the "queen" of the Mediterranean diet due to its variability, genuiness and the practice of using abundant vegetables in the prepation of dishes that go back thousands of years. Here we have very tasty and natural ingredients: shelled musels and octopus salad, seafood salad, vegetable omelettes (courgettes, onions, artichokes, etc.), grilled peppers and aubergines, courgettes in mint sauce, grilled wild onions, sweet and sour beans and many more unusual dishes. The first course is the fulcrum of the traditional local cuisine. Pasta, in particular home-made pasta moulded by expert hands, comes in various shapes and sizes: lasagne (broad flat noodles), orecchiette (small ear-shapes pasta), maccheroncini (small macaroni), and can be served in countless ways: with tomato-sauce, herbs (garden-rocket, mint, etc.), anchovies, chilli pepper, aubergines, turnip tops, broccoli, olives, etc. Dairy products made with sheep's milk are widely consumed such as fresh ricotta cheese (a kind of local cottage cheese) and its derivatives: ricotta forte (a strong smelling soft cheese) and ricotta tosta or cacioricotta (a hard cheese used especially for grating over pasta). Formaggio pecorino ( ewe's milk cheese) and mozzarella (milky cheese) made with sheep's milk are excellent, too.

The main ingredient of the local cuisine is olive oil also called the "Gold" of the Salento area. It is obtained bypressing the best of the local olives (green or black) and it is ideal both raw as a dressing, especially extra virgin olive oil, to bring out the flavour of traditional dishes and of the dressing itself, and for cooking crisp and light food; it is also used for pickling as it is excellent at bringing aut the best of garden produce. Indeed, another local preparation are the "sott'oli": vegetables (artichokes, tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines, mushrooms, wild onions, etc.) but also olives and fish (tuna fish and anchovies) all preserved in glass jars topped with oil.