Customer Reviews

A Culinary Traveller in Tuscany

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A fabulous travel guide, which my wife and I used extensively on our recent visit to Tuscany. The author provides details of wonderful restaurants, spectacular settings and hidden gems in small towns and villages throughout the region!

If you are planning a visit to Tuscany, don't leave home without this book. If you are over 50 and look forward to a good meal at the end of a well-travelled day, this book is a must-read.

Mike and Michal
New York City

This book is what so many books claim to be but aren't -- an off-the-beaten-track gem. For any visitor to Tuscany with the time or inclination to go beyond the usual Florence-Lucca-Pisa-San Gimignano-Siena type of itinerary (to name just one), the book offers a wonderfully imaginative alternative: plan your days -- or the entire trip -- around the best restaurants to be found in the little towns that most tourists never visit. The author gives tantalizing descriptions of both the towns and restaurants (with maps and itineraries), and supplies plenty of recipes to boot. So the book will function in the kitchen just as well as on the road -- it is essentially half cookbook and half guidebook. But for me (not being much of a cook, and planning a trip to Italy) it was the places the author describes that were the most delectable of all. The book is a great idea, beautifully executed and beautifully written.

Beth Elon's descriptions and recommendations are spot-on. I got this book just in time for a trip to Tuscany and found it extraordinarily useful. We loved visiting the places she mentioned and found her recipes and description of local specialties a great help in making fantastic menu selections. Back home, the recipes are like having Tuscany in our kitchen. It's now my favorite book to give to food- and travel-loving friends.

Beth Elton's title isn't just a cookbook - it takes a culinary tour of Tuscany into regions largely uncovered in other titles - and surveys the special kitchens and products of over fifty restaurants whose cooks produce original recipes revealed just for this title. All dishes have been adapted for home cooks but retain the authenticity of generations of development, so cooks seeking a blend of travelogue and new dishes to try will find delightful the blend of travel insights and easy dishes. No photos, but the simple instructions don't need them.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

My husband and I, along with 2 friends (all in our late 30's) spent 10 days in Tuscany and used this book as our bible. We hit 9 of the restaurants in the book, at times driving off the beaten path just to have the next great meal.

Some of our greatest memories are of the meals we shared- lamb chops that can only be found in a specific restaurant, specialty beef worth its weight in gold, pasta that would make you slap your momma (LOL) and the most incredible chefs, servers and owners who all contributed to the experience.

If you are a foodie, you cannot go wrong. Use this book as your excuse to explore all of the nooks and crannies of the Tuscany countryside. We ended up in places we never would have found on our own. If you make it to La Chiusa, ask to go back in the kitchen- you won't be disappointed. Its like walking into your Italian grandma's kitchen. Pots boiling, meat cooking in a woodburning open oven. And the owner, Dania, is a hoot!

I wish there were books like this for everyplace I traveled. It would make life easier and more exciting!

...you would enjoy this book if you were "over 50"! I am far from 50, yet still found this book a pleasure to read. It will come in handy if you are a foodie--of any age, ahem--who is traveling through Tuscany and would like to explore far from the tourist haunts. It's one part tour guide, one part cookbook, and one part armchair traveler/cultural immersion. Beth Elon's descriptions of the local characters are thoughtful and engaging, and her detailed information about local cuisine makes me want to try every recipe in this book.

When reading Beth Elon's book you are transported to the sites and sounds of Tuscany. Elon combines travel experiences, history and food to give the armchair traveler and the cook some hands-on experience through reading.

Over fifty restaurants are visited in the book and each offers up authentic Tuscan recipes. Not only will you find recipes to cook in your kitchen, but if you get to Tuscany you'll be able to pick restaurants from the book to sample as you travel the hills and country side. The book would be worth taking with you as Elan also points out sites to see.

She included an absolutely wonderful recipe for Stuffed Zucchini Flowers which is why I picked the book having experienced these in my travels in Romania. Yum! A recipe that fascinated my granddaughters (and they even liked it) was the Exploding Beans which featured cranberry or borlotti beans. Had to do some looking to find them, but nutty flavor combined with garlic, rosemary and sage was wonderful.

If you like Tuscany and like food and like history this book is highly recommended both for the armchair traveler and for those that will go to Tuscany!

I am very excited to visit some of the places mentioned in this book, and the recipes look wonderful.

More of a travel book. Some of the simple things were missing...ie. whether to serve a dish warm or cold...were missing. She also did not mention what type of pot or pan to use...ie. I found myself with a mixing bowl when I should have had a saucepan. I ended up with every dish in the kitchen dirty. A real pain! Attention to those details would have made for a nicer cooking experience!
I love Tuscany and find charm in the little off the beaten path villages vs. Florence and Pisa. I was really looking forward to bringing some of it back home but it was a little difficult to enjoy.

I love all about Tuscany would love to live ther and be able to write about it