pasta pane vino deep travels through italy's food culture

Above all, that means thinking not addition but subtraction, not what else can I add, but what can I take away? That means refraining from unholy acts of aggression: throwing it against the wall, adding oil to the boiling water, spinning the pasta against your spoon, or for God's sake cutting the noodles with a knife and a fork. That means saucing it sparingly, in the same way a French chef might dress a salad, carefully calibrating the heft and the intensity of the sauce to the noodle itself.

pasta pane vino deep travels through italy

That means cooking it properly, ignoring package or recipe instructions and instead relying on a system of vigilant testing until only the barest thread of raw pasta remains in the center of the noodle. The bond between flour and water (and in some cases egg) is sacrosanct, and it must not be broken unnecessarily, compromised by sloppy cooking or aggressive saucing or tableware transgressions. The rest of the world openly wonders what makes Italian pasta so good and theirs so mediocre, but the answer is right in front of their faces: the pasta itself.

From the pasta temples of Rome to the multicultural markets of Sicily to the family-run, fish-driven trattorias of Lake Como, Pasta, Pane, Vino captures the breathtaking diversity of Italian regional food culture.Among the pillars of Italian cuisine, pasta is the most sacred-the one that has inspired thousands of books, millions of journeys, and infinite debates about how to do it right. Goulding’s writing has never been better, in complete harmony with the book's innovative design and the more than 200 lush color photographs that introduce the chefs, shepherds, fisherman, farmers, grandmas, and guardians who power this country’s extraordinary culinary traditions. Town by town, bite by bite, author Matt Goulding brings Italy to life through intimate portraits of its food culture and the people pushing it in new directions: Three globe-trotting brothers who became the mozzarella kings of Puglia the pizza police of Naples and the innovative pies that stay one step ahead of the rules the Barolo Boys who turned the hilly Piedmont into one of the world’s great wine regions.

Pasta, Pane, Vino is the latest edition of the genre-bending Roads & Kingdoms style pioneered under Anthony Bourdain’s imprint in Rice, Noodle, Fish ( 2016 Travel Book of the Year, Society of American Travel Writers ) and Grape, Olive, Pig ( 2017 IACP Award, Literary Food Writing). This is not a cookbook. This is something more: a travelogue, a patient investigation of Italy’s cuisine, a loving profile of the everyday heroes who bring Italy to the table. 'Goulding is pioneering a new type of writing about food.' -Financial Times Matt Goulding expertly navigates it’s wonders and eccentricities with wisdom and great passion.” -Anthony Bourdain “Italy is a beautiful but complicated place, not so much a country as a collection of cultures and cuisines.

Pasta pane vino deep travels through italy's food culture