The Vinegar of Spilamberto: And Other Italian Adventures with Food, Places, and People

By Doris Muscatine

Book Overview

In 1958, Doris Muscatine's husband, a medieval scholar, got a Fulbright for a year of research in Italy. They lived in Rome and almost immediately became hopeless Italophiles. The Vinegar of Spilamberto is the enchanting story of their experiences. The couple returned often, staying in various apartments--a house in Venice, a medieval tower in Tuscany, and a villa on the Appia Antica with its own catacombs. From such small places as Populonia and Rovescala to bigger ones like Riace and Dozza, the family immersed themselves in the Italy off the typical tourist tracks. Muscatine describes the extreme cultural differences everywhere, but most notable in Sicily, and delights in various foods--including Il Ranocchio, dall'antipasto al dolce (The Frog, from antipasto to dessert)--and the wines that went with them. Chapters are devoted to the Italian appreciation of slow food and of special products such as truffles and balsamic vinegar.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1593760817
• ISBN13: 9781593760816
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Counterpoint LLC
• Length: 281 Pages
• Weight: 0.99 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

The Vinegar of Spilamberto

In The Vinegar of Spilamberto: And Other Adventures with Food, Places, and People, Doris Muscatine takes food and dining as her pathway into an eloquent revisiting of Italian culture. With intelligence, humor, and surprising particularity, she evokes the experience of Italy: its people, history, traditions, festivals, landscapes, and food. Those who already love Italy will cherish it more. For those who know Italy less, the book provides a lively introduction to the ways of enjoying it. Not to mention many delicious, region-specific recipes that will lure you into the kitchen.

Vivid Evocations of Italy -- Places and People, Food and Wine

If you love Italy -- its food and wine and people, and if you enjoy good writing, then this is the book for you. Here is a memoir in which each chapter creates vivid evocations of place, from the Amalfi Coast to the Piedmont Region, from Positano to Populonia to Barbarino Val d'Elsa. Sprinkled throughout are lively portraits of people and often wonderful new information, be it a detailed history and the many variations of truffles, or the emergence of the Slow Food Movement (as opposed to fast food), or even classic Italian recipes such as caponata or the Renaissance dish of cibreo (here without the [...]). Doris Muscatine has always known how to write about food so that we taste as we read, but here she allows us to enter a richer and more colorful world that lets us experience her adventures as she evokes them.