Overview

Italy’s tumultuous history can be traced through its food. In an epic scooter trip from the Ionian Sea to the far north, distiguished food writer Matthew Fort explores the local gastronomy and culinary culture of a country where regional differences are vibrantly alive. In no other country is food so much a part of everyday life as it is in Italy. Matthew Fort's plan is a simple one: to travel by scooter from Melito di Porto Salvo – the southernmost town in Italy and where Garibaldi landed in 1860 to begin his conquest of Naples – to Turin in the north, eating drinking, talking and noting as he goes. Passing through Calabria – rich in spices, Arabian-influences of almonds and dried fruits, as well as Spanish chocolate (Fichi al Ciocolatto, mostacciolo) – and on to Campania – from where the historic Nepalese pizza has become infamous – Fort discovers the rich connection between historical tradition and cuisine. The Italian genius for combining abundance and thrift is evident from the economy of the mountainous and sparse landscape of Molise, where much use is made of pastas and chillies, and adjoining lush Abruzzo, with its delicious cheeses and risottos. Fort travels on to Emilia-Romagna, where much of what we have come to love in Italian food can be found: prosciutto di Parma, mortadella, ravioli, taggliatelle and zamponi…In Piedmont, the wine-and-truffle country stretching from the shadow of the Alps through arable flatlands, the cooking of France and Northern Europe fuses with that of Italy. This enticing sum of parts – the dishes, producers, ingredients, consumers and eating occasions – make up nothing less than a contemporary portrait of the country.

Full Product Details

9780007214815

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Elizabeth David meets Jack Kerouac -- around the table and on the road, this is a brilliant insight into Italian gastro-culture.' Giorgio Locatelli 'Lemon blossom and freshly baked bread waft up from every page. The most intensely greedy, fragrant and sensuously written travelogue I have ever read. A glorious, glorious feast.' Nigel Slater 'A beautifully written, humorous account of a talented food writer controlling what seems to be a midlife crisis by travelling around Italy on a Vespa.' Jamie Oliver

'Elizabeth David meets Jack Kerouac -- around the table and on the road, this is a brilliant insight into Italian gastro-culture.' Giorgio Locatelli 'Lemon blossom and freshly baked bread waft up from every page. The most intensely greedy, fragrant and sensuously written travelogue I have ever read. A glorious, glorious feast.' Nigel Slater 'A beautifully written, humorous account of a talented food writer controlling what seems to be a midlife crisis by travelling around Italy on a Vespa.' Jamie Oliver

Author Information

Matthew Fort was educated at Eton College, Roedean School, the University of Lancaster and the University of Pennsylvania. He has a BA (Hons). He has been a keen cook for most of his adult life. For twenty years he worked as a copywriter and creative director for a variety of advertising agencies. In 1986 he was invited to write a column about food in the Financial Times Saturday Review. In 1989 he shook the dust of advertising off his feet to become Food & Drink Editor of the Guardian, a post he still holds. He wrote a cookery column for the Illustrated London News for one year, and another for Esquire for five years. He has also written for Vanity Fair, the Observer, the Mail on Sunday, the Daily Telegraph, Business, Country Living, Country Homes & Interiors, Decanter, The Field, ES Magazine, Cuisine et Vins de France, Bon Appetit and Waitrose Food Illustrated. He was Glenfiddich Food Writer of the Year and Restaurateurs’ Writer of the Year in 1991, and Glenfiddich Restaurant Writer of the Year in 1992. He edited the Guardian Sausage Directory in 1992. In 1998 he published Rhubarb & Black Pudding, a book about the Lancastrian chef Paul Heathcote and the Ribble Valley in which Mr Heathcote’s Michelin-starred restaurant in situated. He is currently working on a book about Italians and their food, based on a prolonged trip by scooter from the tip of southern Italy to Turin. He lives in Stroud with his wife.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available