Italian Festival Food: Recipes and Traditions from Italy's Regional Country Food Fairs [Hardcover]

Italy is a land of feste--religious and secular festivals featuring wonderful food. Whether held in honor of a patron saint or dedicated to food itself (the town of Piediluco celebrates fish, for example; Massarosa, the crab; Bozzello, chestnuts), these events take local bounty to great culinary heights.

Italian food writer and cooking teacher Anne Bianchi has visited Italy's 18 regions and returned with over 200 festival recipes. These are not only uniquely good, but illuminate vital culinary traditions. Lovers of authentic Italian cooking and food culture will find Italian Festival Food a treasure.

The recipes, which are organized by course, from appetizers to desserts, remind one constantly of the great integrity of Italian home cooking: its commitment to impeccable ingredients treated as simply as possible to achieve the most pleasurable result. Irresistible examples of this wisdom include Lazio's Walnut, Mozzarella, and Prosciutto Sandwiches; Baked Rice Casserole with Zucchini and Potatoes from Calabria; the Veneto's Spaghetti Tubes with Duck Sauce; Swordfish Steaks Baked with Tomatoes, Raisins, and Olives from Sicily; and Butternut Squash Bread from Friuli--one of many mouthwatering recipes included in a chapter devoted to soups, breads, focaccias, and pizzas. Bianchi also provides a level-of-difficulty notation for all of the recipes, most of which rate--and truly are--"easy." Recipe headnotes offer relevant celebration profiles, while photos depict the events themselves. Not the least of the book's pleasures are nine adroit essays, woven throughout, that explore the people of the feste--remarkable culinary legacies, skillfully shared. --Arthur Boehm

Italy is a nation that likes nothing so much as a reason for an extravagant party with great food. Throughout it s twenty regions, the sagre, an event to celebrate the preparation and eating of food, takes on a different character, and Anne Bianchi's Italian Festival Food is itself a celebration of the foods of these wonderful gatherings. The foods of the sagre are prepared by village residents who are known for their excellent home cooking, and collected here are over 150 recipes, organized from soup-to-nuts, that celebrate the best of these festivals. One region has a festival dedicated to the enjoyment of polenta in all its variations. Another focuses on seafood. Still another celebrates the many possibilities of the Italian favorite, risotto. Sixty-two black and white photos of the festivals are included throughout, showing everything from food being prepared to the atmosphere of the gatherings themselves. Interesting, festive, and authentically Italian in every way, Italian Festival Food celebrates the best of Italy's culinary heritage.

Italian Festival Food Italy is a nation that likes nothing as much as an extravagant party with wonderful food. Throughout its twenty regions, people celebrate with feste patronale, religious festivals, as well as sagre, which are secular events paying tribute to specific foods. The region of Gubbio boasts of a festival dedicated to the enjoyment of truffles. The festival in Piediluco takes the local bounty of fish to new culinary heights. The many other festivals celebrate everything from crabs to chestnuts to soups—as well as popular Italian favorites like risotto and polenta. Anne Bianchi's Italian Festival Food is a celebration of the foods from these wonderful gatherings. The foods of the sagre and the feste patronale are prepared by village residents who are known for their excellent home cooking. Collected here are over 200 recipes celebrating the best of these festivals, with chapters organized by course, from appetizers and salads to desserts. Sixty-two black and white photos of the festivals are included throughout, showing everything from the preparation of food to the atmosphere of the gatherings themselves. The book also features nine insightful and fascinating essays, highlighting specific festivals and the people involved in their success. Engaging, festive, and authentically Italian in every way, Italian Festival Food celebrates the best of Italy's culinary heritage.

ANNE BIANCHI is a New York City—based food writer of Italian heritage who spends half of each year in her ancestral home in Tuscany. She is the author of several Italian cookbooks, including From the Tables of Tuscan Women, Zuppa!, and The Book of Tuscan Desserts. Together with her Italian cousin, Bianchi also owns and operates a cooking school for Americans located in the Tuscan province of Lucca.