What do you think?
Rate this book
Matt Goulding's Deep Travels Through Food Culture
Pasta, Pane, Vino: Deep Travels Through Italy's Food Culture
Joining the acclaimed Rice, Noodle, Fish and Grape, Olive, Pig, a gorgeously illustrated food-lover’s tour through the incomparable cuisine and culture of Italy from the James Beard Award-winning author Matt Goulding and his popular website Roads & Kingdoms.
Immerse yourself in the breadth and beauty of Italian food, culture, and history with this captivating travelogue that is part detailed user’s guide, part moving love letter to a country where eating is an art. A blend of intimate narrative and insider knowledge reflective of the style pioneered in Rice, Noodle, Fish and Grape, Olive, Pig, the first two titles in this growing book series, Pasta, Pane, Vino is a unique culinary journey through Italy’s key regions.
Matt Goulding introduces the chefs, shepherds, fisherman, farmers, grandmas, and others who power Italy’s revered culinary traditions. From the pasta temples of Rome to the pizza palaces of Naples to the truffle-strewn forests of the Piedmont, Pasta, Pane, Vino captures the breathtaking diversity of Italian regional food culture.
Pasta, Pane, Vino is also illustrated with nearly 200 lush color photographs that bring Italy’s timeless landscape and sensuous food culture to life. Whether you’re an itinerant eater planning your next high-calorie adventure or an armchair gastronaut looking for a stirring story, this food-obsessed guide reveals Italy as never before—an odyssey that will rouse your appetite and imagination in equal measure.
Immerse yourself in the breadth and beauty of Italian food, culture, and history with this captivating travelogue that is part detailed user’s guide, part moving love letter to a country where eating is an art. A blend of intimate narrative and insider knowledge reflective of the style pioneered in Rice, Noodle, Fish and Grape, Olive, Pig, the first two titles in this growing book series, Pasta, Pane, Vino is a unique culinary journey through Italy’s key regions.
Matt Goulding introduces the chefs, shepherds, fisherman, farmers, grandmas, and others who power Italy’s revered culinary traditions. From the pasta temples of Rome to the pizza palaces of Naples to the truffle-strewn forests of the Piedmont, Pasta, Pane, Vino captures the breathtaking diversity of Italian regional food culture.
Pasta, Pane, Vino is also illustrated with nearly 200 lush color photographs that bring Italy’s timeless landscape and sensuous food culture to life. Whether you’re an itinerant eater planning your next high-calorie adventure or an armchair gastronaut looking for a stirring story, this food-obsessed guide reveals Italy as never before—an odyssey that will rouse your appetite and imagination in equal measure.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2018
178 people are currently reading
1711 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
October 10, 2018
Read the full review here: http://pageandplate.com/pages/#/pasta...
Pasta Pane Vino is, in many ways, my favorite book I ever have or ever will read. I've never been to Italy, but I feel so passionately about its people, places, and edible things that I sometimes cry when we watch food and travel shows about it. If this doesn’t make sense to you, that’s okay. I can’t really make sense of it either. And this book, to nobody’s surprise, was no exception to this rule.
Pasta Pane Vino is, in many ways, my favorite book I ever have or ever will read. I've never been to Italy, but I feel so passionately about its people, places, and edible things that I sometimes cry when we watch food and travel shows about it. If this doesn’t make sense to you, that’s okay. I can’t really make sense of it either. And this book, to nobody’s surprise, was no exception to this rule.
April 24, 2019
REVIEW FOR UNLISTED AUDIO BOOK
PASTA, PANE, VINO: No End to Italy’s Epicurean Wonders
http://fangswandsandfairydust.com/201...
Indeed, as the blurb above announces, this is NOT a cookbook. Compared to Frances Mayes's tour of Italy, Goulding's journal, is limited and felt as if he were following in the footsteps of the late, great (and, for me, sorely missed) Anthony Bourdain in search of Nonna's (grandma's) cooking, but he ends up exploring how producers, farmers, restaurateurs and consumers are maintaining a commitment to the ideals of Italian food: respecting tradition but incorporating worthy new ingredients and techniques. The mozzarella brothers mentioned in the blurb are good examples of how tradition can incorporate new ideas without losing integrity. And, the story also looks at a traditional eatery with a no nonsense lake-to-table ethic that affects everyone who visits. But I also felt the author was unfocused, stuck in his past adventures in Spain, and a little whiny, and self-indulgent; chasing tradition as he bemoaned "what was happening to Italian cuisine, to how it is being "romanticized." I was confused about whether the entire book happens in one fell swoop: as it sometimes felt like he was traveling with his spouse and other times he seemed to be recovering from rejection. Goulding and Bourdain were both struggling with changes in Italian food and culture, and yet, as one quote in the book says , Italian cuisine is frozen in time but not encased in Amber. I just felt confused a lot of the time. And, this is partly because the audiobook was styled in the same way the print book was — with quotes about heroes, and memories — but without context. This is the problem with translating experiential and strongly visual print books to audio. Seriously, these little vignettes were incomprehensible without checking out the print book on Amazon. On the other hand, they attended the same truffle festival that my husband and I did, so there was a personal connection. Speaking of the audio, I would swear Damron was the news-anchor voiced reader of several other nonfiction books, bit it looks like this is the first Damron for me. He has a pleasant voice and it didn't seem he was just reading the book but that he was indeed Matt Goulding and had had all these experiences himself. This is a more chef, or food historian approach to Italian food than the Frances Mayes's book SEE YOU IN THE PIAZZA. I did learn an important celiac tip: many sauces are augmented with the water from cooking wheat-based pasta.This is a great book for more technically oriented lover of Italian cuisine and tradition. This feels like the story of a guy trying to reconcile the past, present and future of a cuisine, and whether it's his business anyway.
PASTA, PANE, VINO: No End to Italy’s Epicurean Wonders
http://fangswandsandfairydust.com/201...
Indeed, as the blurb above announces, this is NOT a cookbook. Compared to Frances Mayes's tour of Italy, Goulding's journal, is limited and felt as if he were following in the footsteps of the late, great (and, for me, sorely missed) Anthony Bourdain in search of Nonna's (grandma's) cooking, but he ends up exploring how producers, farmers, restaurateurs and consumers are maintaining a commitment to the ideals of Italian food: respecting tradition but incorporating worthy new ingredients and techniques. The mozzarella brothers mentioned in the blurb are good examples of how tradition can incorporate new ideas without losing integrity. And, the story also looks at a traditional eatery with a no nonsense lake-to-table ethic that affects everyone who visits. But I also felt the author was unfocused, stuck in his past adventures in Spain, and a little whiny, and self-indulgent; chasing tradition as he bemoaned "what was happening to Italian cuisine, to how it is being "romanticized." I was confused about whether the entire book happens in one fell swoop: as it sometimes felt like he was traveling with his spouse and other times he seemed to be recovering from rejection. Goulding and Bourdain were both struggling with changes in Italian food and culture, and yet, as one quote in the book says , Italian cuisine is frozen in time but not encased in Amber. I just felt confused a lot of the time. And, this is partly because the audiobook was styled in the same way the print book was — with quotes about heroes, and memories — but without context. This is the problem with translating experiential and strongly visual print books to audio. Seriously, these little vignettes were incomprehensible without checking out the print book on Amazon. On the other hand, they attended the same truffle festival that my husband and I did, so there was a personal connection. Speaking of the audio, I would swear Damron was the news-anchor voiced reader of several other nonfiction books, bit it looks like this is the first Damron for me. He has a pleasant voice and it didn't seem he was just reading the book but that he was indeed Matt Goulding and had had all these experiences himself. This is a more chef, or food historian approach to Italian food than the Frances Mayes's book SEE YOU IN THE PIAZZA. I did learn an important celiac tip: many sauces are augmented with the water from cooking wheat-based pasta.This is a great book for more technically oriented lover of Italian cuisine and tradition. This feels like the story of a guy trying to reconcile the past, present and future of a cuisine, and whether it's his business anyway.
February 28, 2021
Pasta, Pane, Vino is another excellent entry to Goulding's highly-personal books on the intersection of food, culture, and travel. Goulding is at his best when he isn't a dispassionate actor, but covering a topic very much at the core of his being. I don't think he'll ever be able to top his book on Spain, with his deeply personal writings on the courtship of his Catalonian wife, Laura, but Italy comes the closest, based on what he's described through the course of this series.
Goulding's personal connection with Italy actually comes by way of Spain; in Grape, Olive, Pig, Goulding describes how he met Laura and was initially rejected. His short stay in Barcelona was extended multiple times, to the detriment of the training he was supposed to be taking in Italy.
Goulding is at his best when he is most self-aware of who he is and what he represents. I chafed at Rice, Noodle, Fish (Japan) because his writing displayed his lack of awareness of his role as a white guy and what it meant in Japan. But with Italy, he fully recognizes that the last thing that the world needs is yet another book about Italy's food culture. He takes a directional stab at focusing on some of the less-told stories, like the freshwater fishers on Lake Como and Lake Garda, his escapades around Sardinia, and the detailing of the conflicting goals between truffle hunters and winemakers in the Piedmont. In his preface with Bourdain, he discusses his goal to highlight the people changing Italian cuisine, rather than the guardians of a revered, but possibly-stagnant tradition.
The richness of Goulding's writing again is the biggest draw of this series. I don't think he's laying it on too thick, though you might disagree. For me, it's an accurate description of the feelings he experienced during his travels - many with his now-wife, Laura. I'm especially impressed by just how he acts with impunity towards Tuscany. In his words, Tuscany is lovely, but plenty of other regions offer the same experience, but off the beaten path. I don't even think he mentions Venice once, and I was surprised that he opens with spilling all the best parts of Rome's cuisine and quickly moves past it.
I'm impressed that Goulding was able to accomplish what he set out to do: write a book about Italy's food culture without kowtowing to the olds, rehashing what others have written about ad nauseum, or being an edgelord about the glory of Italian cuisine.
Goulding's personal connection with Italy actually comes by way of Spain; in Grape, Olive, Pig, Goulding describes how he met Laura and was initially rejected. His short stay in Barcelona was extended multiple times, to the detriment of the training he was supposed to be taking in Italy.
Goulding is at his best when he is most self-aware of who he is and what he represents. I chafed at Rice, Noodle, Fish (Japan) because his writing displayed his lack of awareness of his role as a white guy and what it meant in Japan. But with Italy, he fully recognizes that the last thing that the world needs is yet another book about Italy's food culture. He takes a directional stab at focusing on some of the less-told stories, like the freshwater fishers on Lake Como and Lake Garda, his escapades around Sardinia, and the detailing of the conflicting goals between truffle hunters and winemakers in the Piedmont. In his preface with Bourdain, he discusses his goal to highlight the people changing Italian cuisine, rather than the guardians of a revered, but possibly-stagnant tradition.
The richness of Goulding's writing again is the biggest draw of this series. I don't think he's laying it on too thick, though you might disagree. For me, it's an accurate description of the feelings he experienced during his travels - many with his now-wife, Laura. I'm especially impressed by just how he acts with impunity towards Tuscany. In his words, Tuscany is lovely, but plenty of other regions offer the same experience, but off the beaten path. I don't even think he mentions Venice once, and I was surprised that he opens with spilling all the best parts of Rome's cuisine and quickly moves past it.
I'm impressed that Goulding was able to accomplish what he set out to do: write a book about Italy's food culture without kowtowing to the olds, rehashing what others have written about ad nauseum, or being an edgelord about the glory of Italian cuisine.
January 7, 2019
I loved Goulding's book on Spain's food (Grape, Olive, Pig) but was disappointed by the one on Japan (Rice, Noodle, Fish). I hoped to find this one on Italy would have some magic for me. Sorry to say, I found it rather pretentious, stagey, and boring. This one, like the one on Japan, lacks the passion for the food and sense of place that came across in Grape, Olive, Pig.
June 29, 2019
Fabulous. I didn’t think it was possible to fall in love with Italy even more but this book did it for me. The photography, the stories of food and wine and the people are amazing. I need to book another trip to Italy ASAP.
March 6, 2024
Pasta, Pane, Vino is a foodie's fever-dream. As Goulding writes about Cacio e Pepe, altamura cheese, and Napolese pizanos I don't know whether to salivate or to wake up because I'm running late to class.
Here is a way of life that I can get behind. Like the spirited nonnas debating ragú, or the chefs fighting back against culinary nationalism through the kitchen, I've come to be reminded that the beauty of food is in the feeling of food, even more than it is in the recipe.
So, though I wish I had a few plates to sample my way through this book, I could taste the feeling with which Goulding wrote and want to live for weeks under the Calabrian Sun, in the land of pizza and pasta and Tuscan grape varietals. That is the kind of dream that the snooze button was invented for.
Here is a way of life that I can get behind. Like the spirited nonnas debating ragú, or the chefs fighting back against culinary nationalism through the kitchen, I've come to be reminded that the beauty of food is in the feeling of food, even more than it is in the recipe.
So, though I wish I had a few plates to sample my way through this book, I could taste the feeling with which Goulding wrote and want to live for weeks under the Calabrian Sun, in the land of pizza and pasta and Tuscan grape varietals. That is the kind of dream that the snooze button was invented for.
November 27, 2018
This book has influenced my food decisions for the past couple days. Great topic with some interesting stories and kind of cheesy writing.
July 5, 2019
What can I say. I've enjoyed them all.
April 18, 2022
4/5 stars
so good!!!
so good!!!
April 28, 2024
Sporadic language mostly in the intro
Liked the author, had a good way of blending information and story
Liked the author, had a good way of blending information and story
June 29, 2025
Beautifully written, like you can taste the words and dishes and stories.
May 16, 2024
This is my most ideal book. Felt especially magical reading through it while in Italy. Made it all come alive!
September 5, 2018
The topic is what interests me the most about this book. I am planning a trip to Italy and wanted a fresh look at what to see and where to eat. The writing in this book is bad, like the phrase "parmesan smile and cabernet eyes." And there were more horrible analogies like that throughout the book. However, I did gain some useful info about places to visit and eat, which is the only reason I gave it 3 stars.
July 22, 2019
I wanted to get into the regional differences in pasta, wine, and bread based on agriculture and local tradition. But this is too superficial for that. It is more of a travelogue about the author’s encounters with locals pushing tradition as Italian food evolves. It isn’t a particularly nicely presented or produced book, either. It lacks glossy pictures and nicely staged food photography. There are so many dropped and misspelled words that it’s annoying.
January 16, 2020
While much of this book made me miss Italy, it reads more like a diary than anything else. Matt waxes on the infinite flawlessness of pizza, yet spends all of 3 sentences in tortellini. Not an even narration on Italian cuisine.
September 17, 2020
Although the book does have many good descriptions of food and settings, the audio performance of the book is abysmal.
In the movie “Breaking Away” Dave (Dennis Christopher) and his working class friends spend their lost high school days in Bloomington, Indiana, competing with snooty students from the local university, chasing girls and - in Dave’s case- dreaming of riding for Cinzano, the Italian sponsored cycling team. You cringe each time Dave attempts to speak Italian just as you may each time Will Damron the narrator of the audio version of the book garbles over an Italian phrase, which unfortunately for the first two thirds of the book is about every fifth word.
The author of Pasta, Pane, and Vino, Matt Goulding, perhaps equally affected writes, “this is why so many of us fantasize about being Italian, because to be Italian means to have memories that taste of this plate of pasta.” Absurdly cliched.
I wonder if I had a copy of the book and had read the words instead of heard this terrible narrated performance if I might have thought it a good cultural feature travel book, minus the cliches and cultural stereotypes that seem just simple and well, why Americans as tourists are sometimes frowned upon.
In the movie “Breaking Away” Dave (Dennis Christopher) and his working class friends spend their lost high school days in Bloomington, Indiana, competing with snooty students from the local university, chasing girls and - in Dave’s case- dreaming of riding for Cinzano, the Italian sponsored cycling team. You cringe each time Dave attempts to speak Italian just as you may each time Will Damron the narrator of the audio version of the book garbles over an Italian phrase, which unfortunately for the first two thirds of the book is about every fifth word.
The author of Pasta, Pane, and Vino, Matt Goulding, perhaps equally affected writes, “this is why so many of us fantasize about being Italian, because to be Italian means to have memories that taste of this plate of pasta.” Absurdly cliched.
I wonder if I had a copy of the book and had read the words instead of heard this terrible narrated performance if I might have thought it a good cultural feature travel book, minus the cliches and cultural stereotypes that seem just simple and well, why Americans as tourists are sometimes frowned upon.
April 25, 2021
Italy has been on my bucket list forever, especially the region of Campania, home to Naples and my Italian heritage. This book took me on a trip to Italy when I needed it most: reading it post Covid, when traveling in the not too distant future can be a reality.
Weather you’ve been to Italy hundreds of times or never before,, this is a quick trip around Italy, filled with details and nuggets of local cuisine, wine and the people that make each region incredible. Just don’t read this if your hungry .... don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Weather you’ve been to Italy hundreds of times or never before,, this is a quick trip around Italy, filled with details and nuggets of local cuisine, wine and the people that make each region incredible. Just don’t read this if your hungry .... don’t say I didn’t warn you!
June 14, 2022
Absolutely amazing book. I was soo enthralled with it that I offered to read it out loud to much husband. He liked it so much he (who usually prefers only music, not even talking on long road trips) insisted I read to him the entire 12 hour drive we took last weekend.
The imagery is beautiful and evocative and descriptive enough to let someone unfamiliar with italian cuisine, to not only understand the food but almost be able to taste it. If I wasnt already excited about my upcoming vacation to italy, I certainly am now!
The imagery is beautiful and evocative and descriptive enough to let someone unfamiliar with italian cuisine, to not only understand the food but almost be able to taste it. If I wasnt already excited about my upcoming vacation to italy, I certainly am now!
December 15, 2024
This needed a more expansive version. Or at least a volume two. The problem with reading something like this about a food and culture of a country that is so well known the world over, you don’t know what to include and edit out. Matt Goulding really just skims the surface of each city and region here, just really giving you a minuscule taste per se. I found that infuriating and ripped off. Yes, I wanted more, of course! If you are writing a book that states a “deep dive”, let it be so. More pasta, more pane and especially more vino!! Por favore 3/5
June 29, 2018
I won this book from Goodreads...and have really enjoyed it! It's not a book that you can just sit down and read...it's a tome to browse through, happily and often...and dream! It's also not just about food, but it relates that today's Italian cooks may not always be the nonne of yesterday...but the food is still to die for! (For some reason, I was sent two copies of this book, so I was able to share the second copy with a friend!)
March 15, 2020
I was reading this book in preparation for our trip to Italy that was canceled due to coronavirus. It is a wonderful travelogue filled with the history, culture, and social aspects of food in Italy. I will certainly refer back to it when we are able to reschedule our travel. I look forward to enjoying the local specialties and connecting with the people who give so much of their selves in order to create the best food possible.
September 5, 2022
The food of Italy is endlessly interesting and Goulding writes well. He mixes regional and food history seamlessly with personal chef/dish stories and the photos help as well. I read about his experience getting AVPN certified with great interest. Imagine ripping a hole in a margherita pizza with all the judges watching. The three cheese making brothers Dicecca in Altamura (Puglia) were particularly memorable. I'll definitely check out the Spanish book before planning that trip.
June 19, 2018
As a fellow Italian food writer, I gravitated immediately toward this book and wasn't disappointed. Incredible descriptions and amazing insight into some of the more interesting food forays one can take in il bel paese. I can't wait to do my own search for the best bolognese in Bologna and this book will be one of my guides when I go this fall. Fantastico! A must-read for food lovers.
March 31, 2020
If you’re looking for a written gastronomical tour of Italy, this is your book. It’s equal parts beautiful and informative, describing the best places to get pizza, red sauce, coffee, wine, and mushrooms, amongst other things. And yet also describing the particular beauty of fishing at Lake Como. It’s a lovely escapist read in the age of covid-19 and social distancing.
August 7, 2020
Great book. A foodies journey through Italy.
Well written book, that reads like a great food journey. Think the Anthony Bourdain show but described in such a way that the book makes you feel like you are sitting at the cafe with the author sipping an espresso as he tells you of his meal the day before. Great recommendations if you are planning a trip to Italy.
Well written book, that reads like a great food journey. Think the Anthony Bourdain show but described in such a way that the book makes you feel like you are sitting at the cafe with the author sipping an espresso as he tells you of his meal the day before. Great recommendations if you are planning a trip to Italy.
April 11, 2023
Audiobook. 3.5 stars. Overall enjoyed this meandering look into Italy’s food culture, with praise for tradition but also acknowledgement of the chefs bringing about modern change. The writing is alright; feels a little forced at times (it didn’t help that I was reading Frances Mayes’ book at the same time, with similar intentioned writing but with better success).
August 1, 2024
Did not finish - felt like the author was talking about Italians and their cuisine in the spirit of old stereotypes (e.g. “Italians will get into family feuds over how to make a ravioli” “ask a waiter for cheese for this one type of pasta and he will cry out in agony”). While cute I felt it kinda just made the cuisine / ppl into a bit of a meme. Writing style also not my thing
November 12, 2018
Enjoyed the tasty tour through Italy. The series does a good job of conveying stories about the people behind the food and showcasing local, off the beaten path restaurants. Looking forward to more in the series.
March 17, 2019
Simply Delicious
There were a few typos but they didn’t distract from how wonderfully written I found this book. The descriptive choices of words and passion with which he wrote was a joy.
There were a few typos but they didn’t distract from how wonderfully written I found this book. The descriptive choices of words and passion with which he wrote was a joy.
March 24, 2019
Enjoyed virtual tour of Italy with this food loving writer
The book is a food lover’s guide to distinctive regions of Italy. Well written and continuously interesting. I’ve already recommended it to several friends.
The book is a food lover’s guide to distinctive regions of Italy. Well written and continuously interesting. I’ve already recommended it to several friends.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews