Italia! Italia!: A Passion for the Real Food of Italy Book

Valentina Harris' book titles grow ever more excitable. Italia! Italia! is the successor to Risotto! Risotto!, which was shortlisted for the 1999 Andre Simon award. The present book arises from the food and cookery courses Harris has taught in Italy over the past decade; and, indeed, the recipes are interspersed with reminiscences of the days spent working with her students and essays on topics arising from the courses (on truffle hunting, on the terrible hardships of life not so very long ago in the Italian countryside, on choosing the perfect kitchen knife). The recipes themselves are a cross-section of the very best of Italian regional cooking (in the sense, that is, that the best Italian cooking is regional), the regions in question being Piemonte, Toscana, Veneto and Sicilia. It would be fair to say that the majority are likely to be familiar to those interested in Italian food, but that would be to miss the point. Valentina Harris' passion for the cooking of her native country is palpable in Italia! Italia!; combined with sound recipes tested to destruction under classroom conditions, the result is a cookery book quite out of the ordinary. --Robin DavidsonRead More