Vittorio Muolo, the owner, allows sadly that he is on a diet and must stick with grilled fish; even that is enough to set the taste buds to tango. I've died and gone to food-lovers paradiso.

Luckily, the cooking class my friend and I share the next morning offers simpler fare -- dishes I might actually reproduce in the basic utility of my South Florida kitchen. Sous chef Luigi Giannuzzi good naturedly guides the way, with the help of an interpreter. Baked grouper with potatoes, tomatoes, olives and capers is straightforward enough; a bit of dicing and oil in a pan, and we're good to go. Fava beans soaked in water, boiled, mashed and seasoned -- spare not an ounce of olive oil -- and served with Swiss chard aren't hard, though the soaking takes all night.

But when it comes to making the ''little ears'' -- fresh orecchiette pasta made from semolina and deftly fashioned with a quick hand and sharp knife -- I'm about to flunk out. Surely it's smarter to buy them than spend hours making this paltry handful. Luigi saves the day, and our homey meal looks downright gourmet when it's delivered to our lunch table on prettily arranged plates.

For every town, it seems, there is a fresh flavor: fish from the currents just beyond yonder cliff, cheeses from the grazing fields just across the stone wall, vegetables from the earth tilled just so for generations.

A restaurant just 30 miles from the sea might serve wild mountain greens or mutton but never fish. So it is at Antichi Sapori in Montegrosso, a small town on Puglia's rocky spine.

I've been brought here by Sebastiano de Corato, whose grandfather started the region's first major commercial winery, Rivera. Regional grapes -- especially primitivos -- are just hitting oenophile radar screens, and though his family's wines have been praised for years -- Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were photographed with a bottle of it on their table during filming of La Dolce Vita in 1960 -- brand awareness is just beginning.

The restaurant proves a cheerful but simple place -- but packed with locals, who know the ingredients served at lunch were likely picked by the chef's father this very morning. Antipasti and pasta are usually chef's choice; it's the main dishes we'll choose.

The plates are delivered, one after another: Grilled spring onion in olive oil with sea salt; puffy focaccia topped with local herbs; a wild bulb fried with olive oil; yet another spring onion baked with Parmesan; a fluffy fresh ricotta with candied celery that is worth a moment of prayer; broccoli roasted with olive oil (are you seeing the pattern?); a hard cheese with caramelized onion; soup with chickpeas and barley; orecchiette with tomato sauce and braesola. Eating pretty much every dish on the menu costs about 35 euros -- including dessert and coffee.

''In Apulia, cuisine is all about olive oil,'' says de Corato. I believe him. In the course of lunch, I've had about a gallon of this robust and lusty finish. It's much yummier than that bottled stuff I buy at Publix.

In these arid rocks, cows can barely graze enough to keep from fainting. The local fare comes from heartier stock: sheep, horse and donkey. In the name of journalistic authenticity, we try all three. Like most of Puglia, they're a delightful surprise. The lamb chops are tiny and tender, the horse belly, smoked and tasty if tough. But the donkey, oh my, the donkey is sweet as slow-roasted short ribs -- a delicacy to be tested, then tasted again and again.

Just don't tell Shrek. Some things -- like Puglia itself -- should be kept just for those can love them.

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