Celebrating Italy: Tastes & Traditions of Italy as Revealed Through Its Feasts, Festivals & Sumptuous Foods, The [Paperback]

Carol Field (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 11, 1997

Italians are passionate about their food and love to celebrate together. At annual village festivals the food is cooked in mammoth proportions and happy crowds sit and enjoy a communual meal that is a ritual of connection and neighbourly love. In this text, Carol Field takes the reader to these civic feasts and highlights their special, ancient recipes. Recipes include the victory dinner of risotto fratacchione, sorbir d'agnoli and pane di cena.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this encyclopedic effort, IACP/Tastemaker Award-winner Field ( The Italian Baker ) takes readers on a fascinating culinary tour: a trip through Italy that in form is part guidebook, part cookbook and "culinary archaeology" at its best. Her Italy is a place of fairs, festivals,stet and historic and religious hoopla that transform the mundane into the magical: "Festivals are a form of communion . . . not only for Italians but for Americans who happen upon them." Almost invariably, festivals are gastronomically obsessed, "tied to the calendar and to the countryside." Field lures the reader to feasts of seafood, polenta, rice,stet and strawberries--even a Passover seder in Rome. And, from Tuscan grape harvest sweetbread (schiacciata all'uva)sic to creamy pumpkin-flavored rice (riso e zucca)sic and a Christmas soup of bread and cheese (li straccettisic ), she presents a host of unusual recipes. While they are organized by celebration, many are also incorporated into the author's modern menu suggestions. BOMC HomeStyle main selection; author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This fascinating new work from the author of the well-regarded The Italian Baker ( LJ 11/15/85) combines cultural history, folklore, and food, as Field explores some of the more unusual festivals that take place every year in Italy. These celebrate religious holidays, individual cities, pagan traditions, or, often, food: the Fair of Pecorino Cheese, the Gnocchi Bacchanalia. Regardless of the occasion, however, each has its special dishes. Field's lengthy descriptions of the festivals provide an intimate view of the proceedings, and her recipes include many unusual regional specialties and, not surprisingly, a wide array of delicious breads and pastries. Recommended for travel, folklore, and cookery collections.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks (April 11, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060977221
• ISBN-13: 978-0060977221
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #698,718 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a wonderful way to learn about Italy..., February 15, 2000

By 

Dan Hostetler "Dan Hostetler" (Arlington Heights, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Celebrating Italy: Tastes & Traditions of Italy as Revealed Through Its Feasts, Festivals & Sumptuous Foods, The (Paperback)

I bought this book from Amazon.com because of its title alone but was so easily assimilated into Carol's amazing talent of recreating events with the written word that I found it difficult to put down. She put me right IN the festival! Because I live in Italy I have been able to visit a good number of the festivals that she describes in this book and have found her descriptions to be so accurate as to be scary. She seems to have found a way to penetrate the soul of these manifestations in a manner that not even many Italians can do.

I praise this not as a cookbook or a collection of recipes, but as a literary work that can be taken seriously as a 'training manual' on the spirit of Italian celebration. I recommend it to anyone who harbors a love of Italy and wants to know more about its inner being...

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Just A Cookbook, February 25, 2000

By 

Lesley Roubicek Turman -- BellaOnline Italian... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Celebrating Italy: Tastes & Traditions of Italy as Revealed Through Its Feasts, Festivals & Sumptuous Foods, The (Paperback)

Carol Field's Celebrating Italy is as much an Italian cultural reference book as it is a cookbook. I loved reading through all the different holidays celebrated in Italy complete with traditional recipes. Having lived in Italy for 8 years myself, Carol's stories made me long for a return trip.. Being the Italian Cooking Host @ Bella Online I found the recipes true to their cultural origins, but yet given with clear, easy to follow directions. If you are as fascinated with Italian cuisine as I am, you'll love this book!

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EATS-A-GOOD BOOK!, January 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Celebrating Italy: Tastes & Traditions of Italy as Revealed Through Its Feasts, Festivals & Sumptuous Foods, The (Paperback)

This book is full of everything that makes being alive(not to mention being ITALIAN) so wonderful...! Traditions, recipes, slices from everyday ife that make you feel the "specialness" of every single day. Carol's research and her love shine through in CELEBRATING ITALY, so much so, be prepared to take a trip to one of the small towns she describes so mouth-wateringly delicious! Carol made me hungry for tradition, hungry to go back to things I always cherished in my heart. Can't wait for your next book, Carol! Con Amore, Terry Stellini