Good reads to gift and treat ourselves during the Christmas season. There are many recommendations, but we've selected five volumes that go beyond just cooking, touching on experiences, traditions, great masters, and dreams.
Tis the season of giving and enjoying "good" reads. The holiday break is the perfect time to savor the pleasure of a book that teaches, discovers, and provides insights into the vast, diverse, and ever-evolving culinary world.
So here are some literary recommendations worth considering and keeping in mind.
SLOW FOOD FAST CARS
A journey of stories, images, recipes, and kitchen notes revealing how a house became a hotel. That hotel is Casa Maria Luigia, a place where you can immerse yourself in the tranquility of the countryside and experience the world of Emilian-Romagnolo fine dining.
As the opening page of the volume explains, "Slow Food Fast Cars is the work of three authors: Massimo Bottura (MB), chef and restaurateur, narrates slow food, fast cars, and his passion for music, art, and motorcycles; Lara Gilmore (LG), creative curator of Casa Maria Luigia, tells the story of the estate through the objects that give it shape and life; Jessica Rosval (JR), head chef, shares her recipes for a great Emilian breakfast, quick snacks, and the Tòla Dòlza menu using the wood-fired oven."
Italian edition published by L’Ippocampo Milano
BOB NOTO
"I experience the dishes of great chefs in a metaphysical sense, and I believe that food should be immortalized in all its beauty and importance; they are real sculptures, everything else is unnecessary." This is how Bob Noto defined himself as a gastronomic traveler and a photographer capable of capturing the moment of taste and the most intense expression of cuisine and its interpreters. This book is not a classic volume about food but a story that reveals the persona of Bob Noto and how, thanks to his flair and refined palate, he became the pivot around which the world of Italian and European fine dining moved from the late 20th century until his passing in 2017. 192 pages enriched with memories, testimonials from friends and chefs, delineating the portrait of the pioneer of food photography and the intellectual reflections dedicated to it.
Published by Maretti Editore
L’ALTRO MASSARI
Maestro Iginio Massari, the most famous Italian pastry chef in the world, takes a different perspective: in this book, he interprets 80 great first courses of traditional Italian cuisine. A total of five chapters, each dedicated to a specific topic: fresh pasta, fillings and lasagnas, dry pasta, gnocchi, rice, and risottos.
Flipping through the pages, you get a complete view of the cuisine, filtered through the inevitable rigor that characterizes this great professional. To complete it all, a glossary dedicated to herbs and flavors, along with a chapter focused on the basics of cooking like stocks, broths, and sauces.
Published by Gambero Rosso
L’ATLANTE DEI CUOCHI
This book is a real journey through the history of international cuisine, narrated through the experience of those who are its protagonists: the chefs who, with their work, have made a significant contribution to redefining trends, ideas, dishes, and menus on a global gastronomic level. L’Atlante dei Cuochi not only tells their life stories and entrepreneurial dreams but, by outlining their philosophy, manages to relate them to each other, tracing the connections that have determined the various schools of thought, currents, and directions of contemporary cuisine. There are 200 names mentioned and narrated in a certainly ambitious project, synthesized in the large infographic that presents a family tree fueled by influences, apprenticeships, but also stories of friendship and project sharing.
Published by Slow Food Editore
“CLASSICO CONTEMPORANEO – LA GRANDE CUCINA DI IERI E DI OGGI”
Chef Giancarlo Perbellini, along with chef Simone Tricarico, signs this new book where fine cuisine and technique come together to form an educational, useful, pragmatic, and comprehensive journey. 288 pages through which you can explore the vast culinary world, with over 60 recipes designed to preserve the memory of taste, interpreted in a modern key. A volume where on every page, you can read Perbellini's experience, grown and matured on the solid roots of the teachings of the masters but projected towards the future.
