Customer Reviews

Preserving Our Italian Heritage: A Cookbook

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My Italian recipes have been supplied by older Italian immigrants and have been just wonderful. After I read the reviews of this book, I thought I'd actually gain more in enjoyable Italian cooking. I was wrong...this book was a great disappointment to me. My business is baking, I own a wholesale commercial bakery and supply local establishments, and I'm a really terrific chef...making REAL Mexican, Italian and Greek foods for my husband, but this book didn't live up to the reviews. I've better recipes in my own stash than supplied in this book. I'm sorry I wasted the money on it.

I asked a great Italian cook(from the heart of a Bronx Italian neighborhood) for some of her old family recipes. She wrote to me and said that this book was an excellent accumulation of family recipes from Italian families everywhere. The recipes are wonderful, easy and have received rave reviews.

These are great authentic Italian recipies. Some are straight from Italy, some are recipies made after people immigrated here using what was available. I'm Sicilian, and I grew up with homestyle Italian cooking, and this is it.

I don't know how the person who was disappointed with it could claim it wasn't "authentic". Maybe they were comparing it to restaurant food. Well, Italian restaurants are like Chinese restaurants in what they cook for the customers is usually much different than what they would cook at home. So, maybe the misconception stems from there.

Trust me. It's authentic. The only better book I've seen is The Sicilian Gentleman's Cookbook (of course, being Sicilian I'm biased) which I believe is out of print. My Scottish-German wife now cooks like my grandma used to :-)

This book reminds me of an Italian version of The Joy of Cooking. Straightforward recipies from Nona's kitchen. No frills, just good eats.

This book brings back wonderful memories for me! I was fortunate enough to grow up two doors away from an Italian lady, Julia, who made wonderful homemade pasta dishes. She made huge family meals and would share the leftovers with my family! I have been a lover of Italian food ever since. I don't live near Julia anymore, so she suggested that I buy this book and make my own Italian meals. I am happy to report that the recipes are simple, delicious and reminiscent of the Italian cooking I grew up with. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves authentic Italian food.