If you love Italian food, the kind you’d eat in Italy, do yourself a favor and check out Matthew Scialabba and Melissa Pellegrino’s The Italian Farmer’s Table. Weighing in at 300 pages with over 150 recipes, this cookbook is filled with the most authentic Italian recipes and packed with anecdotes and photographs that make your mouth water. It’s like your own little visit to Italy.
Two years ago Melissa and Matthew dropped everything to visit their motherland. They quit their jobs, sold their cars and stored all their possessions to pursue their dream of writing a cookbook about the agriturismi of northern Italy. Agriturismi are small working family farms that open their doors to guests and provide them with meals. Developed by the Italian government in 1985 this system helps farmers earn additional income and helps them to survive as the face of rural Italy
The pair visited and cooked at 30 agriturismi in the eight northernmost regions of the country. They then adapted each recipe they learned in their travels for home kitchens so that each delicious meal could be recreated effortlessly. The Italian Farmer’s Table presents unique recipes that fully represent what it means to “mangia.”
The Italian Farmer’s Table
Authentic Recipes and Local Lore of Northern Italy
By Matthew Scialabba and Melissa Pellegrino
www.theitalianfarmerstable.com