Tumact me tulez

Tumact me tulez is a pasta dish from Basilicata in southern Italy, of Arbëreshë origin, whose Albanian name, tumacë me tulë, means tagliatelle with breadcrumbs. It is typical of Barile, a municipality in the province of Potenza where Albanian Christians settled in the fifteenth century to escape the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans, and although it comes from that community it has blended with local cooking over time. The tagliatelle are served with tomato filets or tomato sauce and anchovy, together with fried breadcrumbs, chopped walnuts, garlic and parsley, and dried chili pepper can be added. Its preparation was historically tied to occasions such as weddings, Saint Joseph's Day and Christmas. Pier Paolo Pasolini praised it while filming in Barile in 1964, a festival devoted to it has been held since 1997, and a ministerial decree of 25 February 2022 placed it on the list of traditional Lucanian agri-food products.