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How Italian Food Conquered the World
Not so long ago, Italian food was regarded as a poor man's gruel-little more than pizza, macaroni with sauce, and red wines in a box. Here, John Mariani shows how the Italian immigrants to America created, through perseverance and sheer necessity, an Italian-American food culture, and how it became a global obsession. The book begins with the Greek, Roman, and Middle Eastern culinary traditions before the boot-shaped peninsula was even called "Italy," then takes readers on a journey through Europe and across the ocean to America alongside the poor but hopeful Italian immigrants who slowly but surely won over the hearts and minds of Americans by way of their stomachs. Featuring evil villains such as the Atkins diet and French chefs, this is a rollicking tale of how Italian cuisine rose to its place as the most beloved fare in the world, through the lives of the people who led the charge. With savory anecdotes from these top chefs and
- Mario Batali
- Danny Meyer
- Tony Mantuano
- Michael Chiarello
- Giada de Laurentiis
- Giuseppe Cipriani
- Nigella Lawson And the trials and triumphs of these
- Da Silvano
- Spiaggia
- Bottega
- Union Square Cafe
- Maialino
- Rao's
- Babbo
- Il Cantinori
- Mario Batali
- Danny Meyer
- Tony Mantuano
- Michael Chiarello
- Giada de Laurentiis
- Giuseppe Cipriani
- Nigella Lawson And the trials and triumphs of these
- Da Silvano
- Spiaggia
- Bottega
- Union Square Cafe
- Maialino
- Rao's
- Babbo
- Il Cantinori
288 pages, Hardcover
First published March 15, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
September 1, 2012
This could have been an interesting book. But if it jells into a coherent point of view it doesn't happen in the first half of the book. I'll never know about the second half, because Mariani's writing style is so deadly boring that I threw in the towel before that.
June 19, 2015
Just a few comments:
This book's first 1/2, before the author becomes personally involved, is most interesting.
I would recommend also reading similar books about food moving into new countries such as Curry (highly recommended) and the Chop Suey Chronicles. You'll see that food follows a similar trajectory as it moves between cultures. This author would have benefitted from a similar reading list, because there are many parallels between the menu of a curry place in Liverpool, a Chinese place in Toledo, and a pizza place in Houston.
The second half of the book reads less like cultural history and more like a list of restaurants. It's a bit too much like bragging. And the "world" conquered by Italian food is *mostly* the United States.
This book's first 1/2, before the author becomes personally involved, is most interesting.
I would recommend also reading similar books about food moving into new countries such as Curry (highly recommended) and the Chop Suey Chronicles. You'll see that food follows a similar trajectory as it moves between cultures. This author would have benefitted from a similar reading list, because there are many parallels between the menu of a curry place in Liverpool, a Chinese place in Toledo, and a pizza place in Houston.
The second half of the book reads less like cultural history and more like a list of restaurants. It's a bit too much like bragging. And the "world" conquered by Italian food is *mostly* the United States.
May 17, 2012
An interesting topic but not particularly insightful. Much of the book was written as a series of unrelated events: "This restaurant owner did this and then that grower did that and then this merchant did the other thing" with no real unifying presence or theme. The book also jumped back and forth across regions and eras. Also, it's really more about how Italian-American food conquered the US, not about how Italian food conquered the world.
August 31, 2017
I really enjoyed the first half of the book, which went into Italian food and the origins of Italian-American food, which is (as we are beaten over the head with for the rest of the book) what most of us in the USA think of when we think of Italian food.
And then the author begins a chapter with a story of his honeymoon when he and his wife took a leisurely three weeks to drive across the country and eat at restaurants and American restaurants were so bad that his wife literally cried out that she didn't know how she could do this for the rest of the trip. Poor doves. From then on after, he became a minor recurring character in the book, talking about the chefs he met and the high-end restaurants he went to, with a minor detour into the fashion world which seemed like padding.
Mezza mezza.
And then the author begins a chapter with a story of his honeymoon when he and his wife took a leisurely three weeks to drive across the country and eat at restaurants and American restaurants were so bad that his wife literally cried out that she didn't know how she could do this for the rest of the trip. Poor doves. From then on after, he became a minor recurring character in the book, talking about the chefs he met and the high-end restaurants he went to, with a minor detour into the fashion world which seemed like padding.
Mezza mezza.
September 14, 2021
This book is one of the best I have read in 2021 as author John Mariani has boiled down what Italian cuisine is in Europe as well as in the United States for the last two centuries. More importantly, he shows how this cuisine came up in popularity internationally. I didn't realize there were trends in certain decades to experiment, or to go back to the family home-style meals. Within those years Mr. Mariani does answer some questions I've had for a long time such as how did we get the fancy pizza fad, and who introduced virgin olive oil to chefs in this nation? Very impressive all the innovations and inventions from the Italians and Italian Americans including Mr. Ghiradelli with the Broma chocolate making process. While the bakeries, ice cream makers, and restaurateurs are impressive it's someone like Angelo Socola who was an importer yet developed a "high yield" kind of rice as well as developed "steam powered threshing mills" in Louisiana.
Chapters are full of a mix of history and stories with well known places like Harry's Bar in Venice. I found that with that density one or two chapters with some time to contemplate is helpful. At the end of most chapters there's a recipe that was mentioned. I appreciated the Coda at the end to give updates on famous restaurants like Elaine's and Sardi's.
This is a book worth owning.
Chapters are full of a mix of history and stories with well known places like Harry's Bar in Venice. I found that with that density one or two chapters with some time to contemplate is helpful. At the end of most chapters there's a recipe that was mentioned. I appreciated the Coda at the end to give updates on famous restaurants like Elaine's and Sardi's.
This is a book worth owning.
January 11, 2026
This was billed as a history of Italian cuisine, but to my displeasure, it ended up focusing on Italian high cuisine - or rather, Italian cuisine as seen by fancy modern restaurants, and how that changed in relation to fashion trends. I was never one for the fashions of fancy cooking; my interest was rather in the first couple chapters on what early modern Italian people ate and how their cuisine came to America. I would've enjoyed seeing more of that, more of specific dishes, and how that changed over time - but that was sadly limited thanks to the author (a food columnist) caring more about fancy dining and how that was slowly moving away from a French focus.
The couple of recipes were nice, though they do fit the stereotype of cream-heavy dishes!
The couple of recipes were nice, though they do fit the stereotype of cream-heavy dishes!
March 24, 2020
TLDR - Skip it and try to find another book on the topic! But if you're stuck in a pandemic well, you can read it.
While it was informative and a little fun, the writing is pretty mediocre. Things seem all over the place, there is no proper order and sometimes it feels like a bunch of restaurant reviews. I also felt that the book focuses solely on the USA which makes quite a bit of sense but seems to betray the title. Moreover, the author's focus on "celebrity" culture is off-putting and seems narrow.
While it was informative and a little fun, the writing is pretty mediocre. Things seem all over the place, there is no proper order and sometimes it feels like a bunch of restaurant reviews. I also felt that the book focuses solely on the USA which makes quite a bit of sense but seems to betray the title. Moreover, the author's focus on "celebrity" culture is off-putting and seems narrow.
stopped-reading
July 4, 2021I had to put this book down at page 12. It had redundant text in the intro (bad editing) and two factual errors. One was a reference to the mistaken idea that a vomitorium was a place where people purged after binging and the other, referencing that Mexicans knew to add 'lime' to corn to keep from getting sick without clarifying that is was limeSTONE or pickling lime. With errors like those I didn't want to risk taking on as fact things that are not true. Such a shame since I had wanted to read this book for a long time.
April 3, 2018
I wanted this book to be way more interesting than it was. Parts of it are perfectly good, sure, but the author spends a lot of time complaining about how bad Italian food is at certain restaurants (and naming names even!) and how completely different Italian-American food is from what is served in trattoria in Italy (duh) that I found it extremely off-putting. At the end, it's a resounding meh.
December 2, 2021
Some good information at the beginning of the book. And some things I didn't know such as pasta originating from china. And being built on by the italians. However when this author gets in to the later parts of the book and starts getting into his personal life it gets quite boring.
November 14, 2018
How Italian food migrated and metamorphed around the globe with special attention to American stomachs.
January 31, 2021
An insightful read that chronicle the history of Italian cooking how it evolve over time
June 19, 2011
Have you ever wondered how the world ended up with so many "Italian" restaurants with red-and-white-checkered tablecloths and a spaghetti and meatballs special when that snapshot simply doesn't exist in Italy? Then this is the book for you.
Alternatively, even if you've never really thought about that question before but are now interested in the answer, I also recommend this book for you.
In How Italian Food Conquered the World, Esquire magazine food and wine critic John Mariani takes us from Venetian trade routes for spices to peasant kitchens to Michelin restaurants as he traces the journey Itailan food has made over the past several centuries. Mariani meticulously covers the historical, sociological, political, and Hollywood-themed factors that have shaped what the world has come to know as Italian cuisine.
Note that although the title refers to "the world," the focus is most definitely on the United States with only brief mentions of other places around the world. Staying true to his food critic roots, Mariani focuses heavily on the Italian (upscale) restaurant scene in the United States, and in New York City and California in particular. While I understand the significance of documenting changes in Italian cuisine in such restaurants, I personally would have loved to learn more about how ordinary people and more "mom and pop" restaurants through the United States are also going back to Italian cuisine's peasant roots -- thanks in no small part to cooking websites, magazines, and television shows.
On that note, I especially enjoyed the first half of the book, which discussed the earliest origins of Italian food dating back to Greek, Arabic, and other influences as well as Italian immigrants' contributions. Overall, Mariani's research is thorough, his presentation engaging, and I'd highly recommend this book to anyone curious about the history and evolution of what "Italian food" has come to mean outside of Italy.
One criticism not for the author but for the publishing house: as seems to be the theme with books about Italy or Italian food published outside Italy, there were quite a few misspelled Italian words. If you've read my reviews in the past, you know this is a pet peeve of mine, and I'm sorry I had to bring it up yet again, but there you have it. In case any publishing houses are reading this, please find a native Italian speaker with a good eye for detail to proofread -- or short of that, someone anal like me who also happens to speak Italian.
Alternatively, even if you've never really thought about that question before but are now interested in the answer, I also recommend this book for you.
In How Italian Food Conquered the World, Esquire magazine food and wine critic John Mariani takes us from Venetian trade routes for spices to peasant kitchens to Michelin restaurants as he traces the journey Itailan food has made over the past several centuries. Mariani meticulously covers the historical, sociological, political, and Hollywood-themed factors that have shaped what the world has come to know as Italian cuisine.
Note that although the title refers to "the world," the focus is most definitely on the United States with only brief mentions of other places around the world. Staying true to his food critic roots, Mariani focuses heavily on the Italian (upscale) restaurant scene in the United States, and in New York City and California in particular. While I understand the significance of documenting changes in Italian cuisine in such restaurants, I personally would have loved to learn more about how ordinary people and more "mom and pop" restaurants through the United States are also going back to Italian cuisine's peasant roots -- thanks in no small part to cooking websites, magazines, and television shows.
On that note, I especially enjoyed the first half of the book, which discussed the earliest origins of Italian food dating back to Greek, Arabic, and other influences as well as Italian immigrants' contributions. Overall, Mariani's research is thorough, his presentation engaging, and I'd highly recommend this book to anyone curious about the history and evolution of what "Italian food" has come to mean outside of Italy.
One criticism not for the author but for the publishing house: as seems to be the theme with books about Italy or Italian food published outside Italy, there were quite a few misspelled Italian words. If you've read my reviews in the past, you know this is a pet peeve of mine, and I'm sorry I had to bring it up yet again, but there you have it. In case any publishing houses are reading this, please find a native Italian speaker with a good eye for detail to proofread -- or short of that, someone anal like me who also happens to speak Italian.
December 14, 2011
I went into this book expecting the brief history of Italian cooking in Italy and the proliferation in various forms throughout the world. Although a large part of the book dealt with the immigrant struggle and creation of "Italian-American" food, there did not appear to be a clear argument to tie the entire book together.
I've never been a huge fan of Italian food. It was always too heavy with too many carbs, too much fat an too much of that ever present red sauce. Obviously, my first exposure to Italian food, like most Americans, was in places like The Old Spaghetti Factory and Olive Garden in my childhood. I've since eaten at wonderful restaurants like Quince and learned what Italian food can be (or rather, what it really is).
i always knew that the heavy read sauces were never part of real Italian cooking. They came into being in the United States when the immigrant families began to slather meatballs and their Sunday "gravy" on everything because in the land of plenty, that was a possibility. I knew there was no such thing as "Italian" food until very recently because the variations between Naples, Sardinia, Rome, etc were so pronounced it was impossible to create a fully Italian identity. I knew there were supposed health benefits associated with Italian cooking that are all negated by portions of pasta and a single, beautiful slice of porchetta.
Mariani does a good job of chronicling the history of Italian American cuisine, but the narration falters when discussing present day. He goes on tangents about the Sopranos and stereotypes associated with Italian Americans. Additionally, he discusses higher end restaurants like Marea in NYC but completely ignores places like Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill, which he gives on line to in a statement that it's not real Tuscan food (but what is?) I would have loved a whole chapter on Marea if he had been an eloquent writer of the most sensual food porn. If he had been able to make me salivate while reading, I would have been happy. However, as a nonfiction book, he left out one of the most crucial restaurants that changed the development and proliferation of Italian restaurants in present day. As much as I would love to eat at Marea, I can assure you that more people have dined at Olive Garden, and on a regular basis. It is the chain restaurants like that, and the inclusion of a pasta dish on every menu in every restaurant that really should be discussed.
I've never been a huge fan of Italian food. It was always too heavy with too many carbs, too much fat an too much of that ever present red sauce. Obviously, my first exposure to Italian food, like most Americans, was in places like The Old Spaghetti Factory and Olive Garden in my childhood. I've since eaten at wonderful restaurants like Quince and learned what Italian food can be (or rather, what it really is).
i always knew that the heavy read sauces were never part of real Italian cooking. They came into being in the United States when the immigrant families began to slather meatballs and their Sunday "gravy" on everything because in the land of plenty, that was a possibility. I knew there was no such thing as "Italian" food until very recently because the variations between Naples, Sardinia, Rome, etc were so pronounced it was impossible to create a fully Italian identity. I knew there were supposed health benefits associated with Italian cooking that are all negated by portions of pasta and a single, beautiful slice of porchetta.
Mariani does a good job of chronicling the history of Italian American cuisine, but the narration falters when discussing present day. He goes on tangents about the Sopranos and stereotypes associated with Italian Americans. Additionally, he discusses higher end restaurants like Marea in NYC but completely ignores places like Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill, which he gives on line to in a statement that it's not real Tuscan food (but what is?) I would have loved a whole chapter on Marea if he had been an eloquent writer of the most sensual food porn. If he had been able to make me salivate while reading, I would have been happy. However, as a nonfiction book, he left out one of the most crucial restaurants that changed the development and proliferation of Italian restaurants in present day. As much as I would love to eat at Marea, I can assure you that more people have dined at Olive Garden, and on a regular basis. It is the chain restaurants like that, and the inclusion of a pasta dish on every menu in every restaurant that really should be discussed.
August 10, 2014
The tables were a dingy green that had been around long enough to have been wiped down by a busboy probably ten thousand times if you added up the years. The walls were stucco with a Venetian gondola mural scene adroitly hand painted on the wall above the booths. I can still remember the pizza: the aroma, the hot tasty olive oil oozing out as you lifted the slice to your mouth. The mozzarella was like rubber! But it was pizza. It was "our place" (Vaccaro's in New Rochelle, NY), and it was what we Italians called good eats back then.
Things have come along, but the journey from being derided as a bunch of "garlic eaters" to a dominant culinary force was neither easy nor boring. After all, what else goes down with a good veal scallopini and a rich, cheap chianti like a mob contract killing at the next table. It must be all that peperoncini in the aglio e oglio.
The only problem this book will give you is a yen for Italian food. Just about every other page had me pining for something my grandmothers made, or drifting into vivid memories of people and places, and the food that made the moment sweeter or more bitter. If you're not Italian but love the food, this book will give you many hours of delightful "behind-the-scenes" accounts of large meals and ominous decisions both taken in smoky back rooms reserved for "our thing", gelato from singing street vendors, and other culinary pioneers that took something from the old country and gave it an American twist. 'Squisita!
So call out for pizza delivery or bake up a frozen lasagna entree, and read this book. It's fast, amusing, and most of all, completely delicious. A great book for travel reading too.
Things have come along, but the journey from being derided as a bunch of "garlic eaters" to a dominant culinary force was neither easy nor boring. After all, what else goes down with a good veal scallopini and a rich, cheap chianti like a mob contract killing at the next table. It must be all that peperoncini in the aglio e oglio.
The only problem this book will give you is a yen for Italian food. Just about every other page had me pining for something my grandmothers made, or drifting into vivid memories of people and places, and the food that made the moment sweeter or more bitter. If you're not Italian but love the food, this book will give you many hours of delightful "behind-the-scenes" accounts of large meals and ominous decisions both taken in smoky back rooms reserved for "our thing", gelato from singing street vendors, and other culinary pioneers that took something from the old country and gave it an American twist. 'Squisita!
So call out for pizza delivery or bake up a frozen lasagna entree, and read this book. It's fast, amusing, and most of all, completely delicious. A great book for travel reading too.
November 16, 2010
I enjoyed reading this book quite immensely. I learned so much about the history of Italian food in Italy and around the world--so many fun facts. The one thing I just don't understand is why Mariani completely left out the influence Italians had on coffee and "café society." As a young person growing up in California in the 1970s and 80s, I took for granted being able to have a cappuccino and a delicious pastry in a charming cafe in San Francisco, but the most of the rest of the country wasn't so lucky until much later. Without Italian cafes there would be no Starbucks. Mariani devoted a whole chapter to wine but there is barely a mention of coffee or cafes (unless I missed it some how!). Other than that it is quite thorough and covers "alta cucina" as well as Italian-American and trattoria fare in a quite egalitarian manner. I highly recommend it to those fond of food histories. I kind of didn't want it to end!
May 24, 2011
Having read a couple books about Chinese food, including Jennifer 8 Lee's The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, I thought this would be an interesting read - especially since I'm mostly Italian.
I wasn't real impressed, though. Much of the book is a history of Italian and Italian-inspired restaurants, mostly in NY, Milan, and the like. There is all of about 2 sentences about, say, The Olive Garden, where I suspect a lot more people have eaten, and think of when they think of Italian food.
There are also a lot of snarky comments by the author about how "red sauce" Italian-American cuisine isn't really Italian - but very little about how Italian-American food came into being. I would have liked a lot more about Grandma's cooking and a lot less about random truffle-infused dishes at some 90's hotspot.
I wasn't real impressed, though. Much of the book is a history of Italian and Italian-inspired restaurants, mostly in NY, Milan, and the like. There is all of about 2 sentences about, say, The Olive Garden, where I suspect a lot more people have eaten, and think of when they think of Italian food.
There are also a lot of snarky comments by the author about how "red sauce" Italian-American cuisine isn't really Italian - but very little about how Italian-American food came into being. I would have liked a lot more about Grandma's cooking and a lot less about random truffle-infused dishes at some 90's hotspot.
December 26, 2011
I found this book fascinating. Maybe it is because I have a deep love of Italian food and over the past few years have read extensively on the Italian cuisine, the Italian-American cuisine and the various cuisines of the Mediterranean but I was amazed at the depth of information contained in this book. While at times I found myself scanning the pages because of the level of detail, I still continued on with it because of the numerous anecdotal and historical information about various dishes and how the food items worked its way into the global food scene. One chapter is devoted to the history of wine-making and how the Italian wine industry developed and the persons who made it happen. This book will be enjoyed by anyone who has an interest in Food History and Italian food in particular.
November 9, 2011
As an Italian-American, I was looking for a book that would teach me virtually everything there was to know about the history of Italian food. This was that book! From the beginning I was sucked into the world of Italy as seen through the eyes of both Italians and Americans. I learned a ton, it wasn't the dry type of read that one might associate with histrionic reads.
This book not only taught me a great deal, but it also left me salivating. I was in Puerto Rico when I read this book, and the first thing I did when I got back home was made a heaping plate of Fettucine Alfredo! YUM! All in all, if you are interested in the history of Italian food, Italian American food, and the food industry in general, this is a book you must read!
This book not only taught me a great deal, but it also left me salivating. I was in Puerto Rico when I read this book, and the first thing I did when I got back home was made a heaping plate of Fettucine Alfredo! YUM! All in all, if you are interested in the history of Italian food, Italian American food, and the food industry in general, this is a book you must read!
November 19, 2011
What was I expecting: A non-fiction, literary narrative with more storytelling.
What I got: Formulaic high school/freshman comp research paper.
The thesis is unclear. I believe that the basis for this book is that the proliferation of Italian immigrants in the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries brought about changes in how people ate. Rather than developing true Italian replicas (of course, a unified Italy does not occur until 1871), a bastardization of the cuisine. Unfortunately, the storytelling process goes like this: There was this guy, he had an idea, he did this, it was successful/unsuccessful because. Repeat.
Not worthy of your time.
What I got: Formulaic high school/freshman comp research paper.
The thesis is unclear. I believe that the basis for this book is that the proliferation of Italian immigrants in the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries brought about changes in how people ate. Rather than developing true Italian replicas (of course, a unified Italy does not occur until 1871), a bastardization of the cuisine. Unfortunately, the storytelling process goes like this: There was this guy, he had an idea, he did this, it was successful/unsuccessful because. Repeat.
Not worthy of your time.
January 14, 2012
I might have given this 2 and a half stars if it did not tick me off so much. Basically, this is not a book but a catalog of restaurants, wines, chefs (all Italian of course) that came together to raise the standard of Italian cooking in the United States and if it were not for the tantalizing tidbit here (when FedEx started shipping Europe to US in the 80's suddenly we could get fresh, good Italian staples)and there (Giada DeLaurentis posed in pool of tomato sauce {!?})and some recognition of the restaurants and chefs listed, I would have tossed it across the kitchen.
April 4, 2013
I had fairly high hopes for this book. I found the first half to be very interesting but after the halfway point I completely lost interest as the focus turned to celebrity chefs and the fashion world. While I appreciate how those areas affect restaurants and food culture in general I didn't find it very interesting to read about in this context. I would have liked to read more about current wines or food trends, for example, and how Italy is impacted by and is impacting the rest of the food world now.
April 30, 2011
I was expecting a social history, but the book actually focuses much more on a century's worth of Italian restaurants, mostly of the pricey and pretentious variety. And as someone who loves her Italian-American grandmother's cooking, I wasn't won over by the author's frequent assertions that Italian food in gourmet restaurants is inherently superior to the traditional Italian-American dishes that have become American staples.
April 28, 2011
A nice easy read that covers some of the recent and not so recent history of Italians' impact on the ever changing culinary scene. I didn't ready anything that added to my understanding of the subject but it did get me thinking about my own family's influence on the world of Italian-American Cooking. Were they really rhe group that set the standard? How much did they bring from the old country and how much was new? Sounds like a topic for a socialogy thesis.
May 1, 2011
Thus far I'm not terribly impressed. If he is a well known food critic, personally I've never heard of him, I would expect him to be able to write better than he does. Frankly I've found the book to be pretentious and annoying so far. I'm really glad I got this book for free, I wouldn't pay a dollar for it.
The book doesn't get better, the author's pretensions shine through from page to page and make it a tough read. The only good thing about the book is the recipes he includes.
The book doesn't get better, the author's pretensions shine through from page to page and make it a tough read. The only good thing about the book is the recipes he includes.
October 13, 2012
this was absolutely a waste of time and money. I have never been so bored or so utterly confounded by a person's reason for writing an historical litany of restaurants and restauranteurs he has known, unless he's deluded by personal arrogance and/or importance. Good grief, I threw the book...and my book club was unanimous in loathing it! Being a writer, it is VERY hard for me to not be sympathetic to other writers. This is a first. Wow, what a ripoff.
August 12, 2016
Didn't so much finish this book as I reached a point where I realized I wasn't learning anything I wanted to know. You could get rid of the second half of this book and not miss much, unless you are really interested in Italian restaurants, and not so much the actual food. The first few chapters, though, were fascinating. Based on the beginning of the book I would've given it 4 stars...
June 25, 2011
This book was just okay. I was expecting it to be much more interesting than it was. He went into tons of detail about restaurants I had never heard of or been to. I generally like food writing, but this was just too much. I liked a few of the chapters, like the one about Slow food, but much of this book wasn't very interesting to me.
July 29, 2015
I was quite pleased with the history that Mr. Mariani included on the food and wines of Italy (and elsewhere). I particularly liked the way he jumped into new topics - wines, then restaurants in New York City, and so on. All good fun and informative too. I like his writing style as it keeps me interested all the way along.
September 25, 2018
I couldn’t finish this book. I don’t know how an author can manage to be so incredibly boring and insufferably pretentious at the same time. It reads more like a cookbook than a work of nonfictions.
I realized I was done with this book when the author painstakingly writes about how his wife cried because they received sub-par Italian food in 1970s Louisiana.
I realized I was done with this book when the author painstakingly writes about how his wife cried because they received sub-par Italian food in 1970s Louisiana.
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