The Italian way
Subtitle: food and social life
By: Douglas Harper and Patrizia Faccioli.
Contributors: Faccioli, Patrizia.
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Chicago; London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 311
ISBN-13: 9780226317243
Subjects: Food -- Social aspects -- Italy
Description: Outside of Italy, the country's culture and its food appear to be essentially synonymous. And indeed, as The Italian Way makes clear, preparing, cooking, and eating food play a central role in the daily activities of Italians from all walks of life. In this beautifully illustrated book, Douglas Harper and Patrizia Faccioli present a fascinating and colorful look at the Italian table. The Italian Way focuses on two dozen families in the city of Bologna, elegantly weaving together Harper's outsider perspective with Faccioli's intimate knowledge of the local customs. The authors interview and observe these families as they go shopping for ingredients, cook together, and argue over who has to wash the dishes. Throughout, the authors elucidate the guiding principle of the Italian table--a delicate balance between the structure of tradition and the joy of improvisation. With its bite-sized history of food in Italy, including the five-hundred-year-old story of the country's cookbooks, and Harper's mouth-watering photographs, The Italian Way is a rich repast--insightful, informative, and inviting.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Setting the table; title: Frames of reference; title: Love; title: Power; title: Labor; title: Constructing food the Italian way; title: Food combinations, meal sequence, and bodily well-being; title: Class, regionalism, and commitment.; title: Digestivo / by Patrizia Faccioli; title: Cibo per la mente : (food for thought).