Eating Up Italy: Voyages on a Vespa

Matthew Fort
Centro Books (2007)
ISBN 1933572027
Reviewed by Cherie Fisher for Reader Views (2/07)

If you were not hungry when you start reading “Eating Up Italy” you will be by the end of the first chapter.  This story is about the author, an Englishman, who has had a lifetime affair with Italy finally following his dream of touring the country from the southern tip to the northern border on a Vespa.  It must have been a comical scene with him slowly and carefully navigating his Vespa on the road with crazy speed demons. 

The book is more than a recipe book.  It contains wonderful descriptions of the people that he met along the way, the food that he ate and the places that he visited.  His writing style is very colorful and descriptive and you often feel like you are traveling with him on this journey.  I would have loved to try the ice cream in Pizzo, the self-proclaimed ice cream capital of the world, or the wonderful sweet charms in Sulmona.  Also wonderful are the descriptions of the pastas, cheeses, and on and on……  This book really has it all!

Each chapter is about a different area that the author visits.  He gives vivid descriptions about the area and discusses the food specialties of that area.  Each chapter has a recipe section for recipes from that area.  Most of the recipes look wonderful, but some of them would probably not appeal to Americans as it uses ingredients that are not used often here.  I figured the best way to get a really good appraisal of the quality of the recipes in this book is to pass them by the critical eye of the Italian Chef from Milan that I am dating.  Overall, he found them to be excellent recipes and he has promised to make me a few of them!

“Eating Up Italy” is a very well written book and would make an excellent gift for anyone who loves the culture, passion and food of Italy.  It would also be a book for anyone planning a trip to Italy.  And if you weren’t planning a trip to Italy when you start the book, you probably will be by the end of it. 

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