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The Cooking of Italy
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208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1968
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About the author
Waverley Root
35 books5 followersWaverley Lewis Root (April 15, 1903, in Providence, Rhode Island – October 31, 1982 in Paris) was an American journalist and writer. Root authored the classic The Food of Italy on Italy and its regional cuisines.
Root was a news correspondent for over 30 years; in 1969 he retired from daily journalism. He was the Paris correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and then The Washington Post. He was also a columnist for the International Herald Tribune.
His books and writings focused on food, and yet mingled culinary details of the regions he wrote about with historic facts, and literary references. [wikipedia]
Root was a news correspondent for over 30 years; in 1969 he retired from daily journalism. He was the Paris correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and then The Washington Post. He was also a columnist for the International Herald Tribune.
His books and writings focused on food, and yet mingled culinary details of the regions he wrote about with historic facts, and literary references. [wikipedia]
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 3, 2008
This Vintage Books Edition (May 1992), is a repro of the Italy trip printed in 1971 by Waverley Root. Root was a foreign correspondent in Europe for nearly fifty years for American newspapers across the country and passed away in 1982. The writing style: Imagine that you have taken a year off from work, and your travelling through the Italian countryside journaling your experiences about your meals and adventures there. Reading it leaves me wanting to run out to an Italian restaurant or start cooking up a gale. Extremely detailed, the voice is like your on the trip yourself actually smelling the rose bushes, inhaling the garlic scented marinara, whiffing the wine's bouquet. It's the kind of book you can only get through 5 or 6 pages at a time there is so much imagery/information to process, but - it gets your mouth watering! btw - I made reservations for 7pm...I'll have the Veal Saltimbaca, Tira Misu and Espresso please:)
November 26, 2019
This series of books goes all over the map; I suspect there is a different team for each book in the series. But it’s called “Foods of the World” and it seems that the installments for worldly cuisines are very good. The Cooking of Provincial France, The Cooking of Vienna’s Empire, and The Cooking of Italy.
The series has a standard format. There is a large hardcover with a lot of writing about the area and most of the recipes. And a smaller spiral softcover with all of the recipes from the hardcover plus a few more.
Waverly Root was well-traveled and writes as if most of the regions were regions he’d been to and the photos were of homes and restaurants he had eaten at. After reading about Tuscany and Florence, I very much want to visit a buca, which he describes as a somewhat literal hole-in-the-wall restaurant, often below street level, where there is no menu and you take what the host provides.
Cookbooks are well known for spurious history, etymology, and pretty much any facts at all, so I was happily surprised to see him write this about why panettone is shaped the way it is:
But then he goes on to relate a fanciful and romantic etymology for panettone that completely ignores that the actual word basically means “large cake”.
All of the recipes I’ve tried so far have been great. Cenci alla Fiorentina is a simple deep-fried pasta, basically, sprinkled with sugar. Much less sweet than the sugary snacks I’m used to, and a good change of pace. Insalata di funghi crudi is a simple mix of mushrooms, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and green onion.
And in the recipe book but not the hardcover, spaghetti alla carbonara is a much less simple spaghetti with bacon, butter, parmesan, and an egg sauce that the cookbook pointedly says gets cooked from the heat of the spaghetti and bacon, and it does, enough to make a thick sauce, but I doubt that it’s enough to make them not count as raw eggs. Very tasty, though, as most raw egg recipes are.
The series has a standard format. There is a large hardcover with a lot of writing about the area and most of the recipes. And a smaller spiral softcover with all of the recipes from the hardcover plus a few more.
Waverly Root was well-traveled and writes as if most of the regions were regions he’d been to and the photos were of homes and restaurants he had eaten at. After reading about Tuscany and Florence, I very much want to visit a buca, which he describes as a somewhat literal hole-in-the-wall restaurant, often below street level, where there is no menu and you take what the host provides.
Cookbooks are well known for spurious history, etymology, and pretty much any facts at all, so I was happily surprised to see him write this about why panettone is shaped the way it is:
It is sometimes suggested that its dome-shaped top is intended to recall the cupolas of Lombardy churches, but since this is the shape that results naturally from cooking dough with yeast in a cylindrical cake tin, the explanation seems gratuitous.
But then he goes on to relate a fanciful and romantic etymology for panettone that completely ignores that the actual word basically means “large cake”.
All of the recipes I’ve tried so far have been great. Cenci alla Fiorentina is a simple deep-fried pasta, basically, sprinkled with sugar. Much less sweet than the sugary snacks I’m used to, and a good change of pace. Insalata di funghi crudi is a simple mix of mushrooms, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and green onion.
And in the recipe book but not the hardcover, spaghetti alla carbonara is a much less simple spaghetti with bacon, butter, parmesan, and an egg sauce that the cookbook pointedly says gets cooked from the heat of the spaghetti and bacon, and it does, enough to make a thick sauce, but I doubt that it’s enough to make them not count as raw eggs. Very tasty, though, as most raw egg recipes are.
June 12, 2017
Love this whole set of Time-Life books which I have had since the late 1960's.
July 9, 2012
I actually read the hardcover non-spiral accompanying book that goes with the spiral-bound recipe book from 1969. The hard cover gives a great overview of the history and culinary traditions of various regions of Italy, along with 83 recipes. The spiral bound book reportedly has all 83 recipes + 18 more.
It was fun to read, and I can't wait to start trying out recipes. I plan to make either ravioli or tortellini tomorrow. My plan is to work my way through all the non-seafood recipes (and if you like seafood: there are plenty of those too).
It was fun to read, and I can't wait to start trying out recipes. I plan to make either ravioli or tortellini tomorrow. My plan is to work my way through all the non-seafood recipes (and if you like seafood: there are plenty of those too).
June 27, 2008
Borrowed from a guy I knew and never ended up giving it back.
Whenever I need to make ricotta pie or forget how to make noodles from scratch I turn to this book.
Also contains EXCELLENT recipe for veal scallopini - now the only recipe I use to make it!
Whenever I need to make ricotta pie or forget how to make noodles from scratch I turn to this book.
Also contains EXCELLENT recipe for veal scallopini - now the only recipe I use to make it!
July 18, 2008
This is an excellent book about Italian provincial cuisine, provides insights about the nature of Italian food ... And Also lots of recipes to try.
January 14, 2010
Part travelogue, part cookbook, this book is informative, interesting, and has gorgeous photos. I highly recommend the Time Life Foods of the World series to anyone interested in the art of cooking.
half-read
August 14, 2011the best is the picture of the audience at a ornate sicilian puppet show. it's all children and they all have dark slightly curly hair and are each eating an ice cream cone.
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March 21, 2018740
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews