Why Italians Love to Talk About Food by Elena Kostioukovitch

Why Italians Love to Talk About Food

by Elena Kostioukovitch

Pan Macmillan, 2009, ISBN 9780330425223, lightly illustrated with black and white photographs, large format paperback

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, no inscriptions, black scribble on back cover (See photographs)

“The aroma of a simmering ragu, the bouquet of a local wine, the remembrance of a past meal: Italians discuss these details as naturally as we talk about politics or sports, and often with the same flared tempers.  In Why Italians Love to Talk About Food, Elena Kostioukovitch explores the phenomenon that first struck her as a newcomer to Italy: the Italian “culinary code”, or way of talking about food.  In doing so, she captures the fierce local pride that gives Italian cuisine its remarkable diversity.  To come to know Italian food is to discover the difference of taste, language, and attitude that separate a Sicilian from a Piedmontese or a Venetian from a Sardinian.  Try tasting Piedmontese bagna cauda, then a Lombard cassoela, then lamb ala Remana: each part of a unique culinary tradition.”