Culinaria Italy

Culinaria

by Claudia Piras (Editor), Eugenio Medagliani (Editor), Ruprecht Stempell (Photographer)

Book by Beer, Guenter

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Italy, Nonfiction, Reference, Travel

496 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Alisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Dad, an excellent cook, rarely relied on cookbooks. He learned how to cook from his mother, who immigrated to the US from Italy when she was a young girl. I can't recall if he bought this or someone gave it to him, but it's a great book. He sometimes used it as a guide, or for inspiration. I have it now. It's really a great cookbook.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This doesn't strike me as a useful cookbook, but as a daydreaming about travel and thinking of new things to experiment with book, it is outright delightful.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book about Italian food and culture, detailing and describing the specialities of each region. Great photography and recipes included as well. A book one could browse for hours, although it leads to great pangs of longing!!

[Cheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite set of cookbooks. These are like travel guides. Each region is carefully explained, and the food that region is known for is detailed. The pictures are exquisite. The books are so heavy that I have to get them down off the shelf for my mom and put her at the dining room table (as she's too little to hold these in her lap)! I have not made many of the recipes out of them, but I have made some homemade pasta out Italy. It turned out very well, although I would not say that for the effort that it was that much better than fresh store-bought. I have much better places for recipes. These are places for ideas. For looking at food and being consumed with the culture behind it.

[Lindsay Jarvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book about Italian food and ingredients, but there are a ton of typos.

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful to dip into. A favorite I have just gone back to after wandering through middle eastern Asian cuisines for a while.

[Redsteve · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with the other books of the CULINARIA series, chapters are organized by region, with basic descriptions, local wines, cheeses, fish, and sausages, recipes, as well as sidebars/inserts containing specific details on food production, festivals, local foodways, and famous restaurants/groceries. Regions in order are: Friuli/Venezia Giulia (details on pork, corn, grappa), Venezia/Veneto (Harry’s Bar, Carnivale, Murano glass, life in the Lagoon, fish markets, vegetables from the Po valley, hunting and fishing in the Valle Salsa, prosecco), Trentino/Alto Adige (barley, country bacon, polenta, apples, beers), Lombardia (asparagus, Peck Delicatessen, geese, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, gourmet kitchens, biscotti, the Lomellina Plain, the Gonzaga family of Mantua, Campari), Val d’Aosta (bread soups, rye bread, genepy , Gran San Bernardo Pass), Piemonte (truffles, rice, grissini, chocolate, Alessi kitchenware, vinegars, wormwood and vermouth), Liguria (Genoa, food on 15th Century ships, modern ships’ kitchens, stockfish and klipfish, olive oil, pesto), Emilia-Romagna (pasta, the Barilla company, prosciutto di Parma, Bologna (the city), cheese graters, formal 16th Century carving, Valli de Comacchio, the modern food industry, ceramics from Faenza, aceto balsamico), Toscana (breads, Tuscan olive oil and oil mythology, harvesting olives, the cooks of Catherine de’ Medici, renaissance cuisine, still lives of food), Umbria (lentils, truffles, spelt, Perugia – “City of Chocolate,” the Torgiano Wine Museum), Marche (fish soups, Beatrice Sforza, Urbino, Gioacchino Rossini, aniseed spirits and liqueurs), Lazio-Roma (ancient Roman cuisine, Roman hospitality, antipasti, coffee/espresso, artichokes, Papal cuisine, Bartolomeo Scappi, the Campo de Fiori, Falerno), Abruzzo/Molise (sheep and goats, traditional pasta-making tools, saffron, candy, sugar-coated candy, and confectionary), Campania (tomatoes, pizza, Capri, nuts from Irpinia, Vesuvius and Pompeii), Puglia (wheat, official and secret ovens, olive oil, mussel farming, oysters, trabucchi), Basilicata (pepperoncino, lamb, honey, Italian pig breeds), Calabria (eggplants, the ritual of baking bread, beans, swordfish and other culinary festivals, citrus liqueurs, melons), Sicilia (mattanza, salt, monastery cuisine, pumpkins and zucchini, capers, Goethe in Italy, citrus fruits, prickly pears, sweet occasions during the church year, cassata, marzipan from Martorana, gelato, winegrowing and mythology, marsala), Sadegna (shepherd’s fare, Costa Smeralda, Sardinian bread, carta di musica, fish preparation/utensils for fish preparation, water). Warning: this series presupposes a certain amount of cooking knowledge in the reader so the recipes often may be a bit short on instructional details. Also, be advised that the Culinaria books are huge (both in dimensions and weight) and this one is no exception; I actually messed up my wrist reading my copy. Put it on a table or countertop. 4 stars.

[Alžběta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely stunning! An enlightening journey into Italian food, cooking, culture, and history. You read about each Italian region, learning its specific traditions and customs, understanding how the regions differ. And what a journey it is!

I enjoyed this book the most when focusing on individual regions: read the chapter, tried the recipes, watched some documentaries, read some books about that particular region. (I highly recommend "Italy Unpacked" BBC series with Giorgio Locatelli!)

A beautiful and stunning book! Highly recommended to anyone interested in Italian food, cooking, culture and/or history!

[Italo Italophiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Italy's culture is a favorite of specialty publisher H. F. Ullman. They have wonderful, fully illustrated, affordable books on Italian cooking and Italian art history. Culinaria Italia is their Italian culture and food edition. I have a copy of the book, and it is a resource I return to over and over again for advice on meals, wines, travel, and just for dreaming.

Please see my full and illustrated review at Italophile Book Reviews
http://italophilebookreviews.blogspot...

[H. Aitoro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am huge fan of the Culinaria series. I think they are not only great cook books but also great sources of cultural information. The pictures are fantastic and the background information about the different regions and the history of the dishes and people that cook them makes this book a delight to read. There are so many wonderful recipes from the northern regions of Italy to the South. Fantastic.

[Hilde Marinette · Rating 5 out of 5]

love love this cooking book as it is just a little more as just cooking...this book will take you on a trip to Italy, you learn about the land, the history, the culture and how to make the food right...yes, this are original recipes, not Americanized ones!!!

[Jerrod Stephan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that has some classic recipes and also some great new ones. Best part of this book is the giant pictures.

[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

I prefer this to the Silver Spoon as my bible to Italian cuisine.

[Dawn Culbertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have the Culinaria France also. I love both of these books. It's like photo and information overload and I love it!

[Karel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelent book about culinary customs in Italia. Contains lots of information about Italian regions and also regional recipes. I highly recommend it.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Italian Cookbook around.

[Kristel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great culture info. More of a coffee table book with good blurbs than a novel.

[Mills College Library]

641.5945 C9673 2000