Customer Reviews

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

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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.