Italy In Small Bites

Mediterranean food expert and James Beard Award winner Clifford Wright presents a mouth-watering collection of recipes for tapas, mezze, antipasti, and other small plates traditional across the Mediterranean region. The Mediterranean region shares a love of bold flavor and fresh ingredients. Mediterranean Small Plates takes you on a culinary journey, showing you how each country uses the foundational ingredients of olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, onions, and fresh herbs to develop their own unique range of flavors and textures. In addition to being beautiful to behold and delicious to eat, a diet of Mediterranean dishes has been scientifically linked to good health, including increased life span, improved brain function, better eye health, lower risk of certain cancers, decreased risk of heart disease and diabetes, and reduced inflammation. With small plates, you can easily share an adventurous, flavorful variety of these healthy foods with family and friends. Filled with stunning photography and easy-to-prepare recipes to serve and savor, Mediterranean Small Platesmakes every meal a celebration.

In this original cookbook, the author explores Italian food and festivals describing how such celebrations came to be, carefully tracing the converging pagan and Christian traditions and presents (over 175) the exuberant recipes made on each feast day respectively.

There is keen interest in the exquisite yet simple Italian cuisine and Italian culture. This volume provides an intimate look at how Italians cook, eat, and think about food today. It describes the cornucopia of foodstuffs and classic ingredients. An overview of the typical daily routine of meals and snacks gives a good feel for the everyday life. The changing roles of women are explored with a discussion of the inroads that convenience foods are making. In addition, the current concerns about the food supply, the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, and the slow food movement are tied in to the debates on these issues in the United States. Food is one of the main reasons why many Americans travel to Italy. Yet, the fascination with Italian cuisine is not all about health or taste. There is much more to it. Italian food is perceived and portrayed in the media as representing a whole lifestyle: Italians live la dolce vita, leisurely eating and drinking with friends and families, families are still important, and communities are close knit. The reality of Italian society is more complex, and this volume offers a balanced view of Italian culture and identity through its foodways.

"[This book] is a vibrant testament to the power of cross-cultural friendships in deepening our understanding of the world. As diverse backgrounds meld in the kitchen, each recipe becomes a dialogue, a celebration of unique cultural heritages, and a bridge between seemingly disparate worlds." —From the foreword by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Academy Award–winning director In Gather & Graze, authors Mumtaz Mustafa and Laura Klynstra celebrate the unity that can be found around a table as well as the universal comfort of a meal prepared slowly with love and attention—providing a path and a place for people to connect, exchange stories, and try new flavors. The spreads, boards, and tablescapes featured in this collection will remind you of happy times and relaxed meals with those you love. Gather & Graze revels in the coming together around a table of people from all backgrounds and presents internationally themed spreads built around more than 175 homemade recipes. The stunningly beautiful and creative spreads that grace the pages of this collection include, but are not limited to: Pakistani Street Food English High Tea New York City Brunch Sonoma Wine and Cheese Board Heartland Cookout Spanish Tapas Liege Waffle Board Pan-Asian Table Portuguese Pestiscos Moroccan Table Savor the multitude of spices, sweets, and flavors on this culinary global journey of shared stories and culture, and rejoice in the universality of one simple act—sharing food as a form of love.

Here is an inspiring, wide-ranging A-Z guide to one of the world's best-loved cuisines. Designed for cooks and consumers alike, The Oxford Companion to Italian Food covers all aspects of the history and culture of Italian gastronomy, from dishes, ingredients, and delicacies to cooking methods and implements, regional specialties, the universal appeal of Italian cuisine, influences from outside Italy, and much more. Following in the footsteps of princes and popes, vagabond artists and cunning peasants, austere scholars and generations of unknown, unremembered women who shaped pasta, moulded cheeses and lovingly tended their cooking pots, Gillian Riley celebrates a heritage of amazing richness and delight. She brings equal measures of enthusiasm and expertise to her writing, and her entries read like mini-essays, laced with wit and gastronomical erudition, marked throughout by descriptive brilliance, and entirely free of the pompous tone that afflicts so much writing about food. The Companion is attentive to both tradition and innovation in Italian cooking, and covers an extraordinary range of information, from Anonimo Toscano, a medieval cookbook, to Bartolomeo Bimbi, a Florentine painter commissioned by Cosimo de Medici to paint portraits of vegetables, to Paglierina di Rifreddo, a young cheese made of unskimmed cows' milk, to zuppa inglese, a dessert invented by 19th century Neapolitan pastry chefs. Major topics receive extended treatment. The entry for Parmesan, for example, runs to more than 2,000 words and includes information on its remarkable nutritional value, the region where it is produced, the breed of cow used to produce it (the razza reggiana, or vacche rosse), the role of the cheese maker, the origin of its name, Molière's deathbed demand for it, its frequent and lustrous depiction in 16th and 17th century paintings, and the proper method of serving, where Riley admonishes: "One disdains the phallic peppermill, but must always appreciate the attentive grating, at the table, of parmesan over pasta or soup, as magical in its way as shavings of truffles." Such is the scope and flavor of The Oxford Companion to Italian Food. For anyone with a hunger to learn more about the history, culture and variety of Italian cuisine, The Oxford Companion to Italian Food offers endless satisfactions.

Internationally-renowned Chef Marisol Murano brings you into a world of deliciously doable small plates and dazzling sights from her work as a destination chef. These 60+ easy recipes are peppered with Chef Marisol's love of travel and adventure. Whether tapas from Spain, mezze from the Mediterranean basin, kobachi from Japan, or sliders from the U.S.A., you will find traditional recipes as well as new, tantalizing favorites you will want to make again and again. This e-book has been designed exclusively for tablets, e-readers and smart phones, which means its gorgeous food and travel photos fill the screen. The recipes are easy to follow without page zooming or flipping and hyperlinked throughout.

Italian food is the ultimate comforting homemade cuisine. Full of rich, robust flavors, enticing aromas, and exuberant colors, Italian cuisine is a celebration of love for both food and family. With The Italian Cookbook for Beginners, you won't need to travel far and wide to enjoy the authentic flavors of Italy. Offering over 100 classic recipes, The Italian Cookbook for Beginners will show you how to cook like an Italian mama, using affordable everyday ingredients from your local grocery store. The Italian Cookbook for Beginners offers simple, delicious Italian recipes that bring the hearty flavors of Italy into your home. The Italian Cookbook for Beginners will show you how to easily create your own classic Italian cuisine, with: 105 authentic Italian Cookbook recipes that use affordable, easy-to-find ingredients Simple Italian Cookbook versions of your favorites, such as homemade pizza, Eggplant Parmigiana, and Italian-style pork chops 4 basic sauces to liven up any dish Tips on buying fresh fish and matching sauces with pastas from the editors of The Italian Cookbook Guide to planning a complete Italian meal using The Italian Cookbook You don't need fancy techniques, hard-to-find ingredients, or specialized tools to create mouthwatering Italian dishes; all you need is The Italian Cookbook for Beginners and a desire to mangia!