Customer Reviews

Mangia Bene!: The Italian American Family Cookbook

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"Mangia Bene" is a collection of recipes garnered over the years from the Devivo family. The recipe sources include the author's grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, cousins, and in-laws.

The book covers everything from traditional Italian dishes such as bruschetta, pinzimonio, wedding soup, and minestrone, to a wonderful section on pizzas and pastas, to recipes like hot wings that are hardly Italian but still excellent.
One of the many excellent dishes that I enjoyed was the pasta Alberto. I left out the anchovies but it still tasted wonderful. The Rosemary Chicken and the Sour Cream Chicken are also excellent choices.

All of the recipes have easy to follow instructions and delicious results. Throughout the book are various tips, background information on the recipes, and family stories that make you feel at home with Kate Devivo and her family. "Manga Bene!" is a highly recommended book of traditional Italian recipes along with some popular more American ones thrown in.

I thought that I would never make my own pizza with homemade dough and sauce, but because the pizza recipes in this cookbook seemed easy enough for the home cook, I gave one of the recipes (Grandma's Pizza) a try. The pizza was absolutely delicious! My family enjoyed it and said they preferred it to takeout pizza. The pizza was healthy too because it needed only a light sprinkling of cheese. This book is a wonderful collection of family recipes. Perfect for the home cook who likes Italian-American food.

Author Kate Devivo has compiled her family recipes, primarily handed down from her grandmother, in this lovely cookbook. The recipes were originally authentic Italian, but have been "Americanized" by the author's family. Therefore, the recipes and tastes are new and interesting. After looking through this book, you feel like part of Kate Devivo's family.

If you are looking for a cookbook with interesting, good, new recipes, get this book!