This book is an homage to traditional and classic Italian home cooking, and to the kitchens of the Italian people who have developed Italian cooking through the centuries and across oceans to new worlds. In America, we call it comfort food. The Italians call it cucina casalinga, home cuisine. In Italy, comfort food is a highly evolved art form, and this book includes recipes from the author's own family of devoted cooks-from appetizers and soups, to salads and meats, from pastas to desserts and even food for children.
Julia della Croce is a journalist, author and teacher. She is regarded as a leading authority on Italian cooking and "one of the country's top-flight cookbook writers" - New York Newsday, 1995.
As a restaurant critic, book reviewer, syndicated columnist and correspondent her work has appeared in newspapers and magazines including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The New Yotk Times Magazine, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Chicago Tribune, COOK'S, New York Newsday, Food & Wine, COOK'S ILLUSTRATED, TIME (Canada) and Art & Antiques.
Julia della Croce is the author of 13 books, the latest are Italian Home Cooking and The Pasta Book. She has been broadcast extensively on American, Canadian and British radio and has made many appearances on national and regional television. She has also been featured on Italian and Japanese television.
The recognition she has received includes an award in 1992 by The James Beard Foundation distinguishing her as one of "America's Best Cooking Teachers." In 1993, she was honored for her contribution to Italian culinary literature at the Italian Embassy in Washington D.C. Her fourth book, The Vegetarian Table: Italy, was nominated for a James Beard Award in 1994. In 1999, she won the prestigious Diplome d'Honneur of France for the French language translation of her sixth book, La bonne cuisine italienne (Solar, Paris). In 2003, her book, Veneto, was nominated "Best Italian Cuisine Book" at the World Cookbook Awards in Spain.
Julia della Croce has lectured about the history of Italian cooking and culture for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies in Philadelphia, N.A.S.F.T in New York and San Diego, The New York Culinary Historians, the American Institute of Wine and Food, and other prestigious trade and educational institutions.
