Italian Cookbooks in their Cultural Setting

by Clifford A. Wright

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10 books

This list contains cookbooks of Italian cuisine with a gastronomical bent (see my list “Italian Food History and Gastronomy”), in other words, they are cookbooks that also inform the reader about the culinary culture whence they derive.

The Food of Southern Italy

Carlo Middione, 2022

Carlo Middione was one of the first to present authentic and varied regional Italian food from southern Italy that moved beyond the stereotypes of “red sauce” and “spaghetti and meatballs” familiar to the then prevalent Italian-American food. Setting both familiar recipes and introducing the reader to an expanded world of southern Italian cooking, in a cultural context, he provides insights into true southern cooking with his excellent and tested recipes.

La Terra Fortunata

The Splendid Food and Wine of Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Italy's Great Undiscovered Region

Fred Plotkin, 2001

Before Italian culinary expert Plotkin wrote this book, the cuisine of the northeastern most region of Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia was mostly unknown to non-Italians. Friuli is also a top producing wine region, so the cuisine that accompanies it is varied, complex, and exciting. Plotkin’s excellent gastronomical approach to this mostly unknown cuisine is a treasure.

Naples at Table

Cooking in Campania

Arthur Schwartz, 2013

Naples at Table is the first cookbook in English to survey and document the cooking of this culturally important and gastronomically rich area. Naples, in the region of Campania, is the birthplace of the roots of Italian-American food, yet no one before Schwartz explored to provinces of this region in a gastronomical way. The book is a rich and delightful source to the finest traditional and contemporary foods of the region, and Schwartz shares myth, legend, history, and recipes.

The Splendid Table

Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Italian Food

Lynne R. Kasper, 2012

Like some of the other books in this list, Kaspar introduces readers to the enchanting wonders, for the first time in English, of the culinary gems from the cooking of Emilia-Romagna, said by some to be the best cuisine on Italy. She does this through storytelling, food history, legends, gastronomy, and recipes, many seeing the light of day in English for the first time.

Italian Regional Cooking

Originally published in Italian and translated in the late 1960s, the famous mid-twentieth century Italian cookbook author Ada Boni presents us with the first book in English on regional Italian cooking. Although I wouldn’t decribe the book as gastronomical, it does speak to us in an Italian voice by virtue of excellent and authentic recipes that would surely drive an Italian food lover to the kitchen.

The Great Italian Cookbook

Italian Acadamy of Cooking, Outlet Book Company Staff, Random House Value Publishing Staff, Rh Value Publishing, 1987

The Accademia Italiana della Cucina produced this culinary masterpiece which is indeed great. Both traditional and contemporary (as of 1986) recipes, 1000 of them, are presented in an understandable format. It’s all recipes (Ada Boni was a contributor) with little commentary, however the recipe all work spectacularly.

Cucina Paradiso

The Heavenly Food of Sicily

Clifford A. Wright, 1992

Whatever the foundations of Sicilian food may be, one thing is certain: Sicilian food is different from Italian food. All of the more than 175 recipes in this book attest to this completely Sicilian spirit. All pay tribute to the historical and traditional origins of each dish. In writing this very special cookbook, Clifford Wright brings to his subject the meticulousness of a scholar and the passion of a true food aficionado.

An Italian Feast

The Celebrated Provincial Cuisines of Italy from Como to Palermo, a Culinary Vade Mecum Illustrated with More Than 800 Recipes from Italy's 109 Provinces and 20 Regions

Clifford A Wright, 2023

A sequel to Clifford A. Wright's groundbreaking A Mediterranean Feast, which won the 2000 James Beard award for Cookbook of the Year and the James Beard award for the Best Writing on Food, An Italian Feast celebrates the cuisines of the Italian provinces from Como to Palermo. An illustrated culinary guide and vade mecum (book of ready reference) meant to be the most comprehensive book on Italian cuisine, it includes over 800 recipes from the 109 provinces of Italy's 20 regions.

Celebrating Italy

Tastes & Traditions of Italy as Revealed Through Its Feasts, Festivals & Sumptuous Foods, The

Carol Field, 1997

Field’s celebratory book is about each of the feasts and festivals that take place in Italy, how each feast came to be and the foods associated with those feasts, a book with food history and the gastronomy of Italy. The recipes are true to their cultural origins.

Cooking of Italy

Foods of the World Series

Waverly Root and the Editors of Time-Life Books, 1968

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by Clifford A. Wright