Customer Reviews

Food of Italy (Food Of Series)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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I saw this book out of the corner of my eye when I was trying to get out of Borders in a hurry. It was weird, I just stopped dead in my tracks and thumbed through the book. I now own it and can say that every recipe in this large book seems absolutely wonderful. The explanations are perfect, and the photography alone is worth purchasing the book. I even find myself flipping through the pages while sitting on the couch just for pleasure. I highly recommend this book!

The gorgeous, oversized THE FOOD OF ITALY: A JOURNEY FOR FOOD LOVERS packs in large color photos on every page as it surveys all the traditional specialties of Italy: from homemade pastas and dishes made with them to veal, quail, eels and much more. The juxtaposition of both gourmet and everyday Italian fare provides a cookbook with a different purpose than many Italian cookbooks already on the market: to feature as much of the country's diversity as possible under one cover. In this effort, THE FOOD OF ITALY succeeds - and succeeds nobly.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

The Food Of Italy: A Journey For Food Lovers is a beautiful, coffee-table sized cookbook featuring sumptuous dishes that characterize the regional flavors of Italy. Stunning full-color photography, many images taking up a full page, revel in the visual appeal of tasty Italian dishes such as Wild Mushroom Bruschetta, Grilled Mackerel, Spicy Lamb Casserole, Calzone, Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca, Panforte, and so many more. The recipes explicitly walk the reader through the steps to perfectly prepare a repast pleasing to the palate. Highly recommended for anyone wishing to add a dose of Italian flavor to the kitchen.

This collection caught my attention a while back while browsing in a store. I picked `The Food of Spain' and started to look through it. After getting it home and really looking through it, I instantly loved it. I went online to see if there were any more books in the collection and sure enough there were. These books are presented beautifully and are overall fun and exciting to read. A great 'coffee table' type book. Beautiful pictures and great explanations. The recipes are very classic. Loved it so much I bought a couple of other books from `The Food of _____" collection. A must have if you are looking into getting a cookbook on food from a specific location. Also would recommend `The Food of Spain" and "The Food of France". Love them just as much as this one.

There are thousands of Italian cookbooks on the market today, but this one is truly unique! Its receipes have a slightly different and delicious take on the familiar foods we know and love. One will especially enjoy the many color photos which add to the appreciation of this book. Perfect for everyday cooking, and especially useful for entertaining family and friends.

Absolutely Great, the author and illustrator of the book definetly went out of their way to make a wonderful product for a cook, chef, or a 12 year old with a spatula!!!

This series is one of the best I've seen. As fun to read for information about the country as to use the recipes. Exceptional photos, easy to follow recipes and great results. This is a great book for the novice or the experienced cook.

I believe that what I like best about this book is that it covers all of Italy. So many Italian cook books cover just southern Italy with a heavy emphasis on the pasta with tomato sauce type dishes. In fact, Italy has a wide variety of areas, each of which has their own cooking style and favorite dishes. This book covers it all.

The second thing I like about this book is that I can pick it up and almost instantly find something that sounds like I would like to fix it. Particularily, I'm planning dinner for some friends this weekend. In just the first few pages I came across Chargrilled Asparagus. It sounds great. What a different way to do asparagus. Or perhaps Asparagus Risotto -- No, These people are southern, back to the Chargrilled. To go with it some Polenta. To us Southern boys, Polenta is called Grits. They have Baked Polenta with Four Cheeses (That's Cheese Grits to me), Polenta with Wild Mushrooms --Nope, I just found it Polenta Cake. Grits for dessert has a special appeal.

Anyway, you get the picture, a wide variety of things that sound really good.

There are, as far as I know, seven volumes in this nice little "Food of" series,each subtitled 'A Journey for Food lovers.' I bought the hardcover edition of the Indian volume first and only afterward learned it was part of a series. Since then I have bought three others. As I like all of these books for the same reasons, it would be easiest to do a general review and then add a few comments concerning the individual volumes.

Mostly, the real pleasure from these books is the tremendous photography. The recipes are fine - I don't wish to suggest otherwise - but I wouldn't be as fond of these books if the recipes were the sole basis by which one could judge them. There is a picture for every recipe (some of them whole page photographs) and occasionally there are supplementary shots detailing some part of the cooking process. There are also all sorts of other pictures, some of which are directly or indirectly related to food, some of which are scenic shots, or pictures of people engaged in everyday life in the region in question. All are beautifully executed.

The book is divided into recipe sections based on the type of food (snacks, main meat dishes, seafood etc) and each book has half a dozen 'Food Journey' sections which deal with some aspect of the cuisine at hand. The Chinese book for example has a section on 'dim sum', and the Indian volume has one on spices. In the hardcover Indian book, these sections are fold-out pages with lots of photographs whilst in the paperback editions I own each section is just a brief two page spread. All the books introduce the region in question with a descriptive culinary overview and the final recipe chapter in each book is entitled 'Basics' and provides tips and recipes on making various essentials in the cuisine.

The Food of India: A Journey for Food Lovers - This, along with the Chinese volume' counts at the top of my 'favourite' list in this series. The 'dal' recipes are excellent and the recipes in the 'Basics' section for Coconut milk and Paneer were nice to see.

The Food of China: A Journey for Food Lovers - The most beautiful recipe pictures of all the books, I think. The Turnip Cake recipe is on of the best I have tried and the 'Basics' section is excellent.

The Food of Spain: A Journey for Food Lovers - Great textual introduction to Spanish cuisine in the first chapter. I *especially* love the Tapas section... I just wish this part could have been longer.

The Food of Italy: A Journey for Food Lovers - This is my least favorite of the books I currently own but that comment should not scare away potential purchasers. The book is has the same excellent qualities as the others, I just personally am more interested in Indian, Chinese and Spanish cuisine than I am Italian.

The remaining books in this series, as far as I know, are The Food of France: A Journey for Food Lovers, The Food of Thailand: A Journey for Food Loversand The Food of Morocco: A Journey for Food Lovers. I will certainly review any that I subsequently purchase. I will probably buy the French volume some time... I find Thai cuisine fascinating, although I don't like it very much, while Morrocan food doesn't particularly interest me very much. Still, I may just buy them for the terrific visual appeal!