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The Vinegar of Spilamberto: And Other Italian Adventures with Food, Places, and People

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In The Vinegar of Spilamberto: And Other Adventures with Food, Places, and People, Doris Muscatine takes food and dining as her pathway into an eloquent revisiting of Italian culture. With intelligence, humor, and surprising particularity, she evokes the experience of Italy: its people, history, traditions, festivals, landscapes, and food. Those who already love Italy will cherish it more. For those who know Italy less, the book provides a lively introduction to the ways of enjoying it. Not to mention many delicious, region-specific recipes that will lure you into the kitchen.

If you love Italy -- its food and wine and people, and if you enjoy good writing, then this is the book for you. Here is a memoir in which each chapter creates vivid evocations of place, from the Amalfi Coast to the Piedmont Region, from Positano to Populonia to Barbarino Val d'Elsa. Sprinkled throughout are lively portraits of people and often wonderful new information, be it a detailed history and the many variations of truffles, or the emergence of the Slow Food Movement (as opposed to fast food), or even classic Italian recipes such as caponata or the Renaissance dish of cibreo (here without the [...]). Doris Muscatine has always known how to write about food so that we taste as we read, but here she allows us to enter a richer and more colorful world that lets us experience her adventures as she evokes them.

Doris Muscatine is no Peter Mayle! This book is shallow, poorly written and imitative. Save your money. Buy real vinegar instead.