( 6 reviews )
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Posted: Jun 10 2009
I picked this book up in the Rome airport on my way home from ten days in Italy, thinking this would be a good diversion for the plane ride home. It was not diverting... it made me ravenously hungry. This reminded me very much of the way people like my grandparents lived: with what is at hand, taking care to prepare for the next season, never thinking that their life is "rustic" or "authentic" or "charming" - it is what it is. I was especially interested in reading about the neighbors who come and assist in the harvest: while nowadays large farms hire laborers to do this, small vineyards where I live still do it this way: put out the call and then feed those who turn out. The author has given a romantic tinge to what is by modern standards a very hard way to make a living, but also shows the intangible benefits of this way of life: the warm family relationships, the pride in one's own work, and the comaraderie with neighbors and tradesmen. And the food: do not read while on a diet! The descriptions of making home-cured sausages, cheese, bread, soups, wine will simply drive you wild with hunger. This is a sweet and lovely read that depicts a vanishing way of life.
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: May 14 2007
Elizabeth Romer chronicles a year in Tuscany. As someone who lived in Italy and even honeymooned in Tuscany, I looked forward to this book. I wasn't really sure what it was. Part cook book and part story of a year in Tuscany, I felt it lacked focus. More importantly, it lacked romance. Her characters seemed distant, almost cardboard figures. I wasn't drawn into their lives. Say what you will about Frances Mayes, but her book brought alive the magic of Tuscany.
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( 4 of 5 found this review helpful ) Posted: Sep 29 2005
Life and Food in an Italian Valley (subtitle) is a memoir, cookbook and record of a Tuscan farm family. I found the book to be a better read than Mayes' "Under the Tuscan Sun" for it gives a more comprehensive look at daily family life rather than one person's experiences. The tweleve chapters--January through December--provide the reader a glimspe of the monthly activities of the Cerotti estate offering a look at their lives including their food, work, family and celebrations. Romer gave me a sense of being a part of the Cerotti household for I became engaged with them as if I were a family member. Sitting at Silvana's kitchen table allowed me to learn much about traditional Tuscan food which has been handed down from one generation to the next.
