Synopses & Reviews
The food publishing event of the season: Beloved teacher and bestselling cookbook author Marcella Hazan tells how a young girl raised in Emilia-Romagna became America's godmother of Italian cooking.
Widely credited with introducing proper Italian food to the English-speaking world, Marcella Hazan is as authentic as they come. Raised in Cesenatico, a quiet fishing town on the northern Adriatic Sea, she'd eventually have her own cooking schools in New York, Bologna, and Venice. There she would teach students from around the world to appreciate and produce the food that native Italians eat. She'd write bestselling and award-winning cookbooks, collect invitations to cook at top restaurants, and have thousands of loyal students and readers some so devoted they'd name their daughters Marcella. Her fans will be as surprised and delighted by how this all came to be as Marcella herself has been.
Marcella begins with her early childhood in Alexandria, Egypt, where she broke her arm. After nearly losing the arm to poor medical treatment, she was taken back to her father's native Italy for surgery. There the family would remain. Her teenage years coincided with World War II, and the family relocated temporarily to Lake Garda not anticipating that it would be one of the war's greatest targets. After years of privation and bombings, Marcella was fulfilling her ambition to become a doctor and professor of science when she met Victor, the love of her life. They married and moved to New York City. Marcella knew not a word of English or what's more surprising a single recipe. She began to attempt to re-create the flavors of her homeland. Shetook a Chinese cooking class in the early '60s with women who asked her to teach them Italian cooking, and she began to give them lessons. Soon after, Craig Claiborne invited himself to lunch, and the rest is history.
Amarcord means "I remember" in Marcella's native Romagnolo dialect. In these pages Marcella, now eighty-four, looks back on the adventures of a life lived for pleasure and a love of teaching. Throughout, she entertains the reader with stories of the humorous, sometimes bizarre twists and turns that brought her love, fame, and a chance to change the way we eat forever.
Review
"Reading this evocative memoir will perceptibly elevate one's senses and make one appreciate Marcella Hazan's fascinating journey from girlhood in Italy to womanhood in America, from relative obscurity to her certain fame in the food world." Pamela Fiori, Town and Country
Review
"Marcella Hazan has done for Italian cooking in the United States what Julia Child did for French cuisine and James Beard for traditional American cooking. I think of her as the Johnny Appleseed of real Italian cooking." Burt Wolf, Television Journalist
Review
"A fantastic book, by a splendid lady whose classic Italian cooking shaped, more than any other person, this British Chef cooking British food." Fergus Henderson, Director and Chef, St. John Bar and Restaurant, London
Review
"This succulent memoir makes you realize just how much the making of Marcella has to do with the making of dinner every night in America." Dorothy Kalins, Founding Editor of Saveur
Review
"Marcella Hazan is an icon in the American food world, and her one-of-a-kind experience makes her own story not only compelling but truly marvelous." Patricia Wells
Review
"Marcella Hazan's memoir is as delicious as her food. Full of affection, friendships and deep connections to her roots, she ladles a grand minestrone into our bowls." Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun
Review
"Marcella Hazan's memoir is a gripping, elegantly written tale of a life full of surprises, exotic backgrounds, captivating people and generous helpings of good things to eat and drink plus the touching, authentically 20th century romance of the marriage of a small-town Italian Catholic to a Sephardic Jew." Paul Levy, award-winning journalist and author of The Official Foodie Handbook
Synopsis
Beloved teacher and bestselling cookbook author Marcella Hazan tells how a young girl raised in Emilia-Romagna became America's godmother of Italian cooking. Widely credited with introducing proper Italian food to the English-speaking world, Hazan, now 84, looks back on the adventures of a life lived for pleasure and a love of teaching.
Synopsis
Bestselling cookbook author Hazan tells how a young girl raised in Emilia-Romagna became America's godmother of Italian cooking. Widely credited with introducing proper Italian food to the English-speaking world, Hazan looks back on the adventures of her life.
Synopsis
Beloved teacher and bestselling cookbook author Marcella Hazan tells how a young girl raised in Emilia-Romagna became America?s godmother of Italian cooking Widely credited with introducing proper Italian food to the English-speaking world, Marcella Hazan is as authentic as they come. Raised in Cesenatico, a quiet fishing town on the northern Adriatic Sea, she?s eventually have her own cooking schools in New York, Bologna, and Venice and teach students from around the world to appreciate and produce the food that native Italians eat. She?d write bestselling and award-winning cookbooks, collect invitations to cook at top restaurants, and have thousands of loyal students and readers.
When Marcella met the love of her life, Victor, they married and moved to New York City. She knew not a word of English or?what?s more surprising?a single recipe. She longed for the flavors of her homeland and attempted to re-create them. One day Craig Claiborne invited himself to lunch, and the rest is history.
Amarcord means ?I remember? in Marcella?s native Romagnolo dialect. In these pages, Marcella looks back on the adventures of a life lived for pleasure and a love of teaching. Throughout, she entertains the reader with stories of the twists and turns that brought her love, fame and a chance to change the way we eat forever.
About the Author
Recipient of two Lifetime Achievement Awards (from the James Beard Foundation in 2000 and IACP in 2004), and a knighthood from her own country, Marcella Hazan is the author of six classic cookbooks published over the past thirty-five years. She lives in Longboat Key, Florida, with her husband, Victor, her lifelong collaborator and writing partner, himself an authority on Italian food and wine.