Eating Up Italy: Voyages on a Vespa - Softcover

Fort, Matthew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007214812 ISBN 13: 9780007214815

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2005

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review

'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

Synopsis

In an epic scooter trip from the South to the North of Italy, award-winning food writer Matthew Fort explores the local gastronomy, culinary culture and tumultuous history of a country. Taking as his starting point Melito Di Porto Salvo, the southernmost town on mainland Italy, Fort eats, drinks, and talks his way through Calabria, rich in spices and Arabian-influences, and on to Campania, where he falls in love with Naples, but despairs of its Pizza. He crosses the remote, mountainous landscape of Molise and adjoining Abruzzo, with their delicious cheeses and traditional lamb dishes. In Emilia-Romagna, he revels in La Salama da Sugo of Ferrara and Risotto alla Pilota of Mantua. He nips into Lombardy where he falls foul of heartless hoteliers and is refreshed at a trades union rally, finally passing through Piedmont where the cooking of France and Northern Europe fuses with that of Italy. As he travels on his scooter, Fort examines the country through its food and the people who produce it. He discovers a land where regional differences are still vibrantly alive, and uncovers the rich connection between history, tradition and cuisine.

The enticing sum of these parts - the dishes, producers, ingredients, consumers and eating occasions - is nothing less than a contemporary portrait of the country.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0007214812
• ISBN 13: 9780007214815
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304