Buon Appetito, Your Holiness: The Secret of the Papal Table [Hardcover]

Mariangela Rinaldi (Author), Mariangela Vicini (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2000

That many of the Popes throughout the two millenia of Christianity lived and ate well is common knowledge. This vivid history of the papacy reveals not only the culinary secrets of the papal kitchens but offers many of the favorite recipes with which the Holy Fathers regaled themselves. We meet the thirteenth-century Pope, Martin IV, whose excessive love of eels literally killed him; Leo X, who favored sugared capons covered in gold leaf, and Pius IX, who always ate a siple but nutritious lunch, punctually at two o' clock, washed down with a glass of fine Bordeaux.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Italy being Italy, food there forms a central part of the culture and of daily life, even in the otherworldly confines of the Vatican. Popes being human beings as well as ambassadors of the divine, the food of the Vatican has ranged, over 2,000 years, from the ascetic to the sumptuous, reflecting the tastes of the officeholder. Where, for instance, John Paul II favors clear soups and the occasional serving of white meat, his Renaissance predecessor Alexander VI was an accomplished and omnivorous glutton--to whose endless appetite, write Parma-based historians Rinaldi and Vicini, the Western world owes the custom of the Christmas Eve feast.

Rinaldi and Vicini offer a vivid, anecdotal, and thoroughly entertaining account of the popes and their varied palates, matching historical observations with recipes fit for a celestial table. For the first pope, Saint Peter, they suggest a wondrous risotto prepared with arborio rice and canteloupe, followed by sole stuffed with crayfish and truffles--a bit elaborate for that simple fisherman, perhaps, but delicious nonetheless. For Paul II, the great humanist and tactician, their menu calls for Venetian rice soup, baked grouse, and Roman-style tripe--not the stuff of an ordinary meal, but a sure hit among the daring. And to commemorate the latest year of Jubilee, Rinaldi and Vicini suggest a nice glass of Brunello di Montalcino, one of Italy's greatest wines, but also a slice of pane della carità, or "bread of charity," made of equal parts of wheat, oat, and barley flour.

Rinaldi and Vicini's book mixes well-tested recipes with fascinating, sometimes bizarre episodes of ecclesiastical history. In every regard, it's a treat. --Gregory McNamee

From Booklist

IAlthough the kitchens of the Vatican constitute at best the world's most exclusive microcuisine, the Holy See has had its share of influence on American eating habits through its calendar of abstinence days. Mariangela Rinaldi and Mariangela Vicini have compiled a brief culinary history of the Vatican, from the start of the Christian era through the present. Buon Appetito, Your Holiness offers simple recipes of the sort consumed in the fourth and fifth centuries through elaborate banquets favored by Renaissance popes. Cooks will find precious few recipes for everyday family consumption, but the book's appeal lies in its historical anecdotes and its broadly conceived notions of papal history, where even Pope Joan and her Aphrodisiac Sea Bass have a place at the table. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 392 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing (November 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559705574
• ISBN-13: 978-1559705578
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,612,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars They couldn't wait for the Lamb's supper..., February 10, 2002

By 

Mrs Parker (Gonubie, South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buon Appetito, Your Holiness: The Secret of the Papal Table (Hardcover)

I have sleep deprivation because of this book... I simply could not bring myself to put it down!
Cooking is not just about, well, cooking and these two marvellous women have illustrated by including the legends surrounding the recipes in this not-just-any-old-recipe-book.
The Papacy with all its strange, special, sacred trappings has been written about for hundreds of years, but this book is not one of those heavy tomes deifying or condemning. It contains just the right amount of history, anecdote, fact and legend, and the inclusion of recipes, both ancient and modern, makes this book worthwhile reading!
Seeing recipes in Latin was great! I had fun trying to work out what the said before reading the translation.
BUT, the thing that impressed me the most about "Buon Appetito..." was the recipe for Martin IV'S eel in vernaccia dish-the one on which he ate himself to death! Putting THAT in made my day! Just imagine at a dinner party..."And, you'll be suprised to know, this delicacy caused the death of a Pope!"
Now, the fact that I am writing from South Africa, ad anum extremum mundi, has its drawbacks-it means that not every recipe in this book is practical. Ok, ok, it's not the book's fault... And the lack of illustration was a little disappointing, but, on the whole, this book is excellent and I certainly recommend it. I am by no means a chef and have found this book an absolute treasure.
Wear a bib whilst reading it.