Al Dente: The Adventures of a Gastronome in Italy [Paperback]

William Black (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 4, 2004

In Al Dente, William Black travels the length and breadth of Italy to get to the roots of Italian food. His quest for the most delicious and authentic cooking and the very finest ingredients takes him to wonderfully familiar places and hidden delights. He drinks great coffee in Turin, and views the mattanza, the annual tuna catch, off the coast of Sardinia. And as he eats his way to the country's culinary heart, he unearths the fascinating story of his own family's role in Italian history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour, Black's travel memoir shows its author following his stomach from one place to another in search of tasty adventures and exceptional foods. Black-who works in England as a food purveyor and cookbook co-author with his wife, Sophie Grigson (Organic: A New Way of Eating)-journeys to Italy in search of further gastronomic enlightenment. He eats his way through its small towns and fishing villages, visiting Turin and Stromboli, Pisa and Naples, and many points in between. In Canale, for instance, Black joins truffle expert Stefano Grosso and his truffle hound, Toby, in a hunt for the elusive fungus. In Comacchio, he gazes at the impressive selection of eels-"grilled eels, smoked eels, marinated eels, fat eels, eels long and short"-that appear to be "beckoning voluptuously from their tins and jars." In Rome, he eats zucchini flowers stuffed with breadcrumbs and anchovies, and in Sicily he encounters penne served in a creamy pistachio sauce. Unlike Bourdain, however, whose swashbuckling observations and experiences reflect his American sensibilities, Black is decidedly British. His humor oscillates between incongruous juxtaposition and dry wit. Describing Toby the truffle dog, for example, he remarks that "unlike me he had a fine tail and wagged a lot." In another chapter he declares that the notoriously reserved British "have only fairly recently managed to get into the idea of social kissing and handshaking and saying good morning." Black's prose also has a certain formality, a stiffness in tone, that takes some getting used to. Anglophiles may enjoy these traits, however, and others may overlook them in favor of the author's engaging culinary travelogue, and the book's inclusion of many odd and unusual recipes.
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Review

“Al Dente is to Italian food what a map is to Italian roads – essential reading. I loved it!”
—Giorgio Locatelli

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Product Details

• Paperback: 289 pages
• Publisher: Transworld Publishers (July 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0552999989
• ISBN-13: 978-0552999984
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,946,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)