{"product_id":"italian-cuisine-alberto-capatti-9780231122320","title":"Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History","description":"\u003cp\u003eItaly, the country with a hundred cities and a thousand bell towers, is also the country with a hundred cuisines and a thousand recipes. Its great variety of culinary practices reflects a history long dominated by regionalism and political division, and has led to the common conception of Italian food as a mosaic of regional customs rather than a single tradition. Nonetheless, this magnificent new book demonstrates the development of a distinctive, unified culinary tradition throughout the Italian peninsula. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAlberto Capatti and Massimo Montanari uncover a network of culinary customs, food lore, and cooking practices, dating back as far as the Middle Ages, that are identifiably Italian: \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eo Italians used forks 300 years before other Europeans, possibly because they were needed to handle pasta, which is slippery and dangerously hot. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eo Italians invented the practice of chilling drinks and may have invented ice cream. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eo Italian culinary practice influenced the rest of Europe to place more emphasis on vegetables and less on meat. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eo Salad was a distinctive aspect of the Italian meal as early as the sixteenth century. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe authors focus on culinary developments in the late medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque eras, aided by a wealth of cookbooks produced throughout the early modern period. They show how Italy's culinary identities emerged over the course of the centuries through an exchange of information and techniques among geographical regions and social classes. Though temporally, spatially, and socially diverse, these cuisines refer to a common experience that can be described as Italian. Thematically organized around key issues in culinary history and beautifully illustrated, \u003ci\u003eItalian Cuisine\u003c\/i\u003e is a rich history of the ingredients, dishes, techniques, and social customs behind the Italian food we know and love today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Alberto Capatti, Massimo Montanari\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0231122322\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780231122320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Columbia University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/17\/2003\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 400\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.36lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.26h x 6.32w x 1.04d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/01\/2003 pg. 199\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/01\/2003 pg. 48\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/01\/2003","brand":"Alberto Capatti","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44070106169599,"sku":"9780231122320","price":42.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_fc2b11e1-3071-49d5-a071-712639995be6.jpg?v=1685428390","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/italian-cuisine-alberto-capatti-9780231122320","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}