Product Description

This is a visually stunning book that takes you on a gastronomic journey revealing the products, the produce and the cooking of six regions in Italy - Piedmont, Veneto, Liguria, Le Marche, Puglia and Sardinia. Anna Del Conte provides a unique insight into these undiscovered parts of Italy that will make you want to visit after enjoying Val Archer's paintings and Anna's stories. Anna observes how passionate Italians are about the flavour and variety of their foods, seasonality, regional specialties and recipes, local producers and local food customs. In each region there are recipes choosen to represent the best use of the local produce, from restaurants or directly from local cooks. This is a totally original food book: for the first time here is a title that is lavishly illustrated with original paintings - over 100 rich oils by a leading painter.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #118153 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Amazon.co.uk
This is a truly fascinating book written by a woman -- Anna Del Conte -- who has been described as the doyenne of Italian cookery writing, and illustrated with delicate paintings by Val Archer. The Painter, the Cook and the Art of Cucina is a highly unusual book, taking the reader on a fascinating gastronomic trip through parts of Italy they may not be familiar with: Puglia, Le Marche, Piedmont and other destinations less travelled by tourists (even Sardinia, Del Conte, tells us, has many clandestine delights to show us). What the book (and its sympathetically attuned paintings) conveys most vividly is the pride taken by these various regions in both their local food customs and particular regional specialities.

The book sets out to communicate to us everything experienced through the author and illustrator's eyes, ears and taste buds on their Italian journey, and while we may have to take the latter on trust, there are few readers will not feel they have been travelling with the duo after just a couple of pages.

Over 100 subtle oil paintings are matched with stories about the food and recipes from the regional cooks and food producers. The Italians are, of course, as famous for their music as for their cuisine, and it is the inclusion of information about such composers as Rossini -- as well as other fascinating nuggets -- that makes the journey such a pleasurable one. At the heart of the book though, of course, are the recipes -- and these are straightforward and comprehensible. Perhaps all the ingredients that the author discusses may not be available to us, but there is no doubt that most of the results are achievable with just a little (worthwhile) effort. --Barry Forshaw

About the Author
Anna del Conte is regarded as one of the greatest living experts on Italian food. In 1975 her first book, Portrait of Pasta, was published. After the acclaim the book received, she became the first cookery writer in England to specialise in Italian food. Her books have won many prizes: Gastronomy of Italy received the Duchessa Maria Luigia di Parma award, Entertaining all'Italiana was shortlisted for the Andre Simon Award, The Classic Food of Northern Italy won awards from the Guild of Food Writers and from the Accademia Italiana della Cucina. Anna Del Conte lives in Dorset with her husband close to her daughter and her beloved grandchildren. Val Archer is a one of Britain's leading still life painters. Since leaving the Royal College of Art in 1970 Val has exhibited regularly ever since in London and other European capitals. Her studios are in London and in the south of Tuscany in Italy. Much of her work is to do with food and she is widely collected by leading names in the food world. For a number of years Val created the pictures for the food pages of The Saturday and Sunday Telegraph newspapers. She also illustrated Nigel Slater's early books and has regularly created paintings for magazines such as BBC Good Food. Val Archer has also published two food books under her own name.

Customer Reviews

Another beautiful book from Anna del Conte
I am a big fan of Anna del Conte, I have a number of her books all of which are informative, inspiring and consistently delicious.
This book explores some of the culinary heritage of six, perhaps lesser known, regions of Italy: Piedmont, Veneto, Liguria, Le Marche, Puglia and Sardinia. Each chapter starts with a wonderful introduction to the area and its cooking, followed by a selection of recipes typical of the region. Having just returned from a holiday in Puglia, I was delighted to find recipes for some of the amazing food I enjoyed there.
The book is also beautifully presented and illustrated with paintings by Val Archer.
It is a wonderful book, highly recommended.

Not trustworthy as a cookery book
I'm sorry to write this, but the recipes I've tried so far haven't worked. I love Anna del Conte's other books but it seems that the recipes in this one haven't been tested enough. Also there are not detailed enough so you have to be quite knowledgeable to succeed. The paintings are lovely though.