Honey from a Weed: Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades, and Apulia (1987)

by Patience Gray

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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289	5	91,578	(3.98)	23
A literary memoir of life, food, and travel in the Mediterranean.

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Shaking a Leg (44)

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I have dipped in and out of this book for years, but decided this weekend to do it all in one go. A great work of imagination, history, and culture. Not much for cooking here, I think, as I can't imagine making Pigs' Tongues with Pomegranate Sauce for any occasion. But lovely prose and very evocative. (

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fmclellan | Jan 23, 2024 |

Perhaps the best of those cook books dealing with the life as well as the food. Gray's partner was a sculptor, so they move from quarry to quarry, learning about Mediterranean poverty and how it gives rise to certain types of cooking. Insightful and well-written. (

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jason.goodwin | Mar 23, 2012 |

120. 1st ed. Superb commentary on traditional foodways of the Mediterranean Basin she inhabited. 'The weed from which I have drawn the honey is the traditional knowledge of the Mediterranean people...' (

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kitchengardenbooks | Apr 4, 2009 |

Fasting and feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades and Apulia.
A book I treasure. Bought at Waterperry, near Oxford (

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overthemoon | Aug 2, 2006 |

http://www.markbernstein.org/Mar0601/HoneyfromaWeed.html (

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chrisleeclark | Mar 14, 2006 |

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... including a book that I especially treasure - Honey from a Weed: Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades and Apulia, which some food writers call the finest cookbook ever written in English. (Superlatives do make me nervous.)

added by prosperosbook | editThe Age, Stephanie Alexander (Oct 17, 2006)

▾Other authors

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Patience Gray	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Sargood, Corinna	Illustrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Thorne, John	Foreword	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Publisher Series

The Cook's Classic Library

Has as a commentary on the text

Shaking a Leg: Collected Journalism and Writings by Angela Carter

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

IACP Cookbook Award (Winner – Culinary Classics)

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Canonical title

Honey from a Weed: Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades, and Apulia

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

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Epigraph

Man is nostalgia and a search for communion. -- Octavio Paz, The Labyrinth of Solitude

It is through celebration that we become part of what we perceive: the great arc of birdsong -- that runs around the world in the receding darkness and through which we are swept into the light of day -- is as much part of the dawn as the sun's first flash. - Norman Mommens

The acanthus listens / to echoes from afar. / Timeless, / other leaves tremble / to muffled sounds -- Salvador Espriu, Formes i Paraules

Dedication

For Wolfe

First words

In the last twenty years I have shared the fortunes of a stone carver and during that time, working in silver and gold, have become a craftsman myself.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Thorne, John

Innes, Jocasta

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC