Anna Del Conte

I'm rather a late-comer to the charms of Anna Del Conte but I absolutely loved this book. Whether describing her rather privileged childhood, her family's life during the Second World War in Italy, life in post-war Britain, her career or just family holidays, Del Conte writes beautifully and evocatively about the places she has lived in and loved, and naturally about the food she has cooked or eaten along the way. Each chapter ends with a small selection of recipes related to the foods, show more place or period described within it, be it the celebratory feast at the end of the war in Italy or just the polenta biscuits favoured by the children. The recipes are easy to follow and those that I have already tried have been very successful and delicious - and I intend to try many more. My plans include the Baked Tagliatelle with Mushrooms (putting my newly-learned pasta-making skills to good use), Risotto al Limone and the Polentine biscuits - and that may just be for this week! I highly recommend this book, even for those who, like me, don't already have a collection of Anna's recipe books. Her food is enticing, but her life has certainly been eventful and she writes about her fascinating experiences brilliantly in an account that is sometimes moving, sometimes humorous and self-effacing (e.g. her self-confessed 'failures') but always frank and honest. show less

"Gastronomy of Italy" is a lovely book that is a bit hard to use. Lovely because it is so full of exiting facts and recipes, but hard to use because it is alphabetized in Italian. Recipes and tips are tucked in amongst the text entries. The book is so full of information it is almost overwhelming. History, geography, technique, language, it is all there. To a cook who is also a scholar the effect is thrilling.

Whatever you do, though, DO not buy this heavily cross referenced book in its show more electronic form. It is unusable. Here is the intro to the index:

"Italian terms are cross-referenced to the English term if there is more detail to be found. Words such as ‘with’, alla and di are ignored for the purposes of alphabetization. Italian and Latin terms and book titles are listed in italics. Page numbers in italics indicate a map or photograph. Page numbers in bold denote a recipe."

The index is comprehensive but the entries are not completely bi-lingual. Thus the entry for acciuga says that you should also see anchovies, but the anchovy entry does not reference acciuga. Some of the index entries are Italian only. This is a book that will end up littered with slips of paper and tiny notes. Digital formats are completely unsuitable.

I received a review copy of "Gastronomy of Italy" by Anna del Conte (Pavilion) through NetGalley.com. show less

And a bit more star. I did enjoy this - especially the earlier part of the book growing up before and through the second world war in Italy - not so much the later part covering her career. The early Oxford and London life had a number of parallels with my mother and father and that gave extra interest - I even wondered if they had met at all. There are also some recipes I may try.

I wouldn't have bought this book because it was originally published in the UK and the authors are European and I'd have assumed the mushrooms would be very different from those in Western Canada. But my brother, who is an avid wild mushroom picker, gave me the book for Christmas and tells me that the mushrooms that grow here (especially in Northern Alberta) are similar or the same as many of to those in Europe.

Like all books by DK, the book has great photos and includes detailed picking, show more cleaning, preserving and cooking information. Looks like it will be a very helpful resource. show less