Oxford Companion to Italian Food: Gillian Riley

By JULIETTE ROSSANT The Oxford Companion to Italian Food (Oxford 2007) by Gillian Riley with a foreword by Mario Batali is a gift. A gift from Gillian Riley to anyone passionate about the nature of food – in Italy or elsewhere. If you don't already have a bookshelf in your dining room (or wherever you eat in your home) get one and put this book on the shelf. It is rich and wonderfully written – a diet of words one could savor for years. Say, you are eating ice cream, look it up in Italian Food and you'll find an imaginative and wide ranging essay starting from the invention of printing and Gutenberg's genius and then the elements that went into creating gelato. Claims that the ice cram cone was "invented" in the United States in 1914 are flying in the face of history, for rolled or cone-shaped cookies and wafers, cialde made between hinged, heated plates, often decorated, have been around for longer than ice cream as containers for rich creams, like the celebrated cannoli of Sicili, rich pastry ovals, wrapped around cylinders of wood, deep fried and served with crema di ricotta (p. 360) Thus all roads lead back to Italy! There are entries for famous chefs and writers, ingredients, regions and cities. There are plenty of references to Roman and Greek culinarians and even earlier history as in this entry on cumin: Apicius used it in sauces and relishes for fish, and indeed it was a common and cheap flavoring all over the Ancient World, mentioned in the Linear B tablets, and know to the Mesapotamians. Its distinctive flavor is now associated with the cuisines of the Middle East and North Africa, but it was one of the flavorings enjoyed in medieval Italy, and Platina writes of it as in common use especially by followers of Hippocrates, who wished to acquire pallor that might indicate assiduous attention to study and brainwork…(p. 151) Riley's oeuvre is a masterpiece of clever writing, information and detail. Previous articles: Gina DePalma: Dolce Italiano Mario Batali: Molto Italiano Lucinda's Rustic Italian Kitchen Giuliano Hazan: How to Cook Italian [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to Super Chef