Brimming with famiuly anecdotes and filled with easy and accessible Italian dishes, "Cucina & Famiglia" is a delightful peek into what it means to grow up in an Italian family. 16-page color photo insert.

Reel Food is the first book devoted to food as a vibrant and evocative element of film, featuring original essays by major food studies scholars, among them Carole Counihan and Michael Ashkenazi. This collection reads various films through their uses of food-from major food films like Babette's Feast and Big Night to less obvious choices including The Godfather trilogy and The Matrix. The contributors draw attention to the various ways in which food is employed to make meaning in film. In some cases, such as Soul Food and Tortilla Soup, for example, food is used to represent racial and ethnic identities. In other cases, such as Chocolat and Like Water for Chocolate, food plays a role in gender and sexual politics. And, of course, there is also discussion of the centrality of popcorn to the movie-going experience. This book is a feast for scholars, foodies, and cinema buffs. It will be of major interest to anyone working in popular culture, film studies, and food studies, at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

"Brava, Ms. Sheldon Johns, for bringing this cooking to us with such grace, and with a reverence that goes to the heart of the Italian cuisine." --InMamasKitchen.com "Cucina Povera is a delightful culinary trip through Tuscany, revered for its straightforward food and practical people. In this beautifully photographed book you will be treated to authentic recipes, serene landscapes, and a deep reverence for all things Tuscan." --Mary Ann Esposito, the host of PBS' Ciao Italia and the author of Ciao Italia Family Classics The no-waste philosophy and use of inexpensive Italian ingredients (in Tuscan peasant cooking) are the basis for this lovely and very yummy collection of recipes. --Diane Worthington, Tribune Media Services Italian cookbook authority Pamela Sheldon Johns presents more than 60 peasant-inspired dishes from the heart of Tuscany inside Cucina Povera. This book is more than a collection of recipes of "good food for hard times." La cucina povera is a philosophy of not wasting anything edible and of using technique to make every bite as tasty as possible. Budget-conscious dishes utilizing local and seasonal fruits and vegetables create everything from savory pasta sauces, crusty breads and slow-roasted meats to flavorful vegetable accompaniments and end-of-meal sweets. The recipes inside Cucina Povera have been collected during the more than 20 years Johns has spent in Tuscany. Dishes such as Ribollita (Bread Soup), Pollo Arrosto al Vin Santo (Chicken with Vin Santo Sauce), and Ciambellone (Tuscan Ring Cake) are adapted from the recipes of Johns' neighbors, friends, and local Italian food producers. Lavish color and black-and-white photographs mingle with Johns' recipes and personal reflections to share an authentic interpretation of rustic Italian cooking inside Cucina Povera.

Presents more than two hundred authentic Italian recipes and shares authors' family stories.

Learn to cook classic Italian recipes like a native with the long-awaited debut cookbook from Rossella Rago, creator of the popular web TV series Cooking with Nonna! For Rossella Rago, creator and host of Cooking with Nonna TV, Italian cooking was never just about the amazing food or Sunday dinner; it was also about family, community, and tradition. Rossella grew up cooking with her Nonna Romana every Sunday and on holidays, learning the traditional recipes of the Italian region of Puglia, like focaccia, braciole, zucchine alla poverella, and pizza rustica. In her popular web TV series, Rossella invites Italian-American grandmothers (the unsung heroes of the culinary world) to cook with her, learning the classic dishes and flavors of each region of Italy and sharing them with eager fans all over the world. Now you can take a culinary journey through Italy with Rossella and her debut cookbook, Cooking with Nonna, featuring over 100 classic Italian recipes, along with advice and stories from 25 beloved Italian grandmothers. With easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions and mouthwatering photos, Cooking with Nonna covers appetizers, soups, salads, pasta, meats, breads, cookies, and desserts, and features favorite recipes including: Sicilian Rice Balls Fried Calamari Stuffed Artichokes Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe Veal Stew in a Polenta Bowl Struffoli Ricotta Cookies Homemade Pasta Handcrafted Spaghetti with Meatballs Four-Cheer Lasagna If you are ready to bring back Sunday dinner and learn how to make Italian food just like nonna, then look no further!

American ideals and models feature prominently in the master narrative of post-war European consumer societies. This book demonstrates that Europeans did not appropriate a homogenous notion of America, rather post-war European consumption was a process of selective appropriation of American elements.

For more than 2,000 years, Jewish families have lived in Italy. Cucina Ebraica tells the saga of the Italian Jews through their food. Their history--and their cuisine--is a fascinating melange of Middle Eastern, Spanish, and Sephardic influences, which celebrated chef Joyce Goldstein painstakingly traces through ingredients and culinary techniques.

Big Night (1996), Ratatouille (2007), and Julie and Julia (2009) are more than films about food—they serve a political purpose. In the kitchen, around the table, and in the dining room, these films use cooking and eating to explore such themes as ideological pluralism, ethnic and racial acceptance, gender equality, and class flexibility—but not as progressively as you might think. Feasting Our Eyes takes a second look at these and other modern American food films to emphasize their conventional approaches to nation, gender, race, sexuality, and social status. Devoured visually and emotionally, these films are particularly effective defenders of the status quo. Feasting Our Eyes looks at Hollywood films and independent cinema, documentaries and docufictions, from the 1990s to today and frankly assesses their commitment to racial diversity, tolerance, and liberal political ideas. Laura Lindenfeld and Fabio Parasecoli find women and people of color continue to be treated as objects of consumption even in these modern works and, despite their progressive veneer, American food films often mask a conservative politics that makes commercial success more likely. A major force in mainstream entertainment, American food films shape our sense of who belongs, who has a voice, and who has opportunities in American society. They facilitate the virtual consumption of traditional notions of identity and citizenship, reworking and reinforcing ingrained ideas of power.

When did we first serve meals at regular hours? Why did we begin using individual plates and utensils to eat? When did "cuisine" become a concept and how did we come to judge food by its method of preparation, manner of consumption, and gastronomic merit? Food: A Culinary History explores culinary evolution and eating habits from prehistoric times to the present, offering surprising insights into our social and agricultural practices, religious beliefs, and most unreflected habits. The volume dispels myths such as the tale that Marco Polo brought pasta to Europe from China, that the original recipe for chocolate contained chili instead of sugar, and more. As it builds its history, the text also reveals the dietary rules of the ancient Hebrews, the contributions of Arabic cookery to European cuisine, the table etiquette of the Middle Ages, and the evolution of beverage styles in early America. It concludes with a discussion on the McDonaldization of food and growing popularity of foreign foods today.

A tavola non si invecchia. At the table (with good friends and family) you do not grow old. In his first two bestselling cookbooks, David Rocco’s Dolce Vita and Made in Italy, celebrity chef and author David Rocco gave readers delicious traditional Italian recipes that any home cook can master. His inspiration, as always: the fresh, simple cooking of the Italian Cucina Povera, or peasant cuisine, that has inspired people around the world. He continues that trend with David Rocco’s Dolce Famiglia. This book is all about family cooking. Dolce Famiglia includes many of David’s family-friendly recipes, running the gamut from essential sauces every home cook should have in their repertoire to snacks, salads, mains and desserts that he makes for his own family. But more than that, the book pays tribute to the people who have inspired him, by telling their stories and sharing their recipes. Dolce Famiglia explores family cooking and heritage foods from across Italy, focusing on the families who have worked as food purveyors over generations. Featuring the richly textured photography and gorgeous design of the previous titles, Dolce Famiglia looks at the stories behind such iconic and delicious Italian exports as parmigiano reggiano, gelato and balsamic vinegar, offering the kind of treasured, always-in-the-family recipes that are such a hallmark of Italian cuisine. As David puts it, “At the end of the day ingredients don’t have hearts and souls. It’s the people and the families who pour their blood, sweat and tears into the making of these iconic products. It’s families who are the gatekeepers to this traditional style of cooking.”