Minchilli - Eating my way through Italy: heading off the main roads to discover the hidden treasures of the Italian table

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This book is for Jane,

who was the best travel mate and friend

I could ever hope for

How do I begin to thank everyone who has helped me in the course of traveling up and down this country over the last twenty years or so? The biggest thanks of all goes to the men, women, and families that are featured in this book as well as those whose work and lives I have written about on my blog and on my apps. This book could not have happened without you. I would specifically like to thank the following people and businesses who shared their recipes, knowledge, and enthusiasm: Matteo and Gianluca Bisol at Venissa; Mauro Stoppa; Ilaria Miani; Bonifacio Brass at Locanda Cipriani; the Tintori family of Vecchia Dispensa; Isabella Giliberti and Marisa Vandeli at Zoello Je Suis; Silvana Ghillani; The Tasca DAlmerita family; Lucia di Mauro and her family at IASA; Alberto Zampino and his family at Pastificio Gentile; Sergio Cinque at Pastificio Faella; Fabrizia Lanza and everyone at the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School; Emanuele La Barbera and Alessandra Rabitti of Fattoria Il Secondo Altopiano; caper producers La Nicchia and Bonomo & Giglio on Pantelleria; Michele Fuso from Cutrofiano; Paola Abraini and Sebastiano Secchi and his family at Agriturismo Testone; honey master Luigi Manias; Corrado Assenza at Caff Sicilia; Pierpaolo Ruta at Antica Dolceria Bonajuto; and Marisa Baglioni.

While I manage to do a lot of research on my own, I also depend upon colleagues (who are also some of my greatest friends) to share their discoveries and knowledge with me, which they do with great generosity. Thank you Rolando Beramendi of Manicaretti; Carrie Blakeman of Rogers Collection; Ishan Gurdal of Formaggio Kitchen; Ari Weinzweig and the Parm Squad from Zingermans; Alessandro Grassi of Grassi + Partners; Beatrice Ughi of Gustiamo; Sara Baer Sinott of Oldways Preservation and Trust; Maria Chiara Passani and Simone Ficarelli of the Consorzio del Parmigiano Reggiano.

And then there are the friends that are always there, either physically with me at the table eating, or else in my mind and in my life, lending support, friendship, recipes, and advice. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, your experiences, and your friendship: Evan Kleiman, Anya Von Bremzen, Alice Feiring, Melissa Clark, Gillian McGuire, Eugenia Radunsky, Judy Witts Francini, Andrea Francini, Vincenzo Lodato, Pamela Sheldon Johns, Jennifer McIvaine, Salvatore Denaro, Laura Evans, Scott Gudgeon, Sam Youkilis, Edward Youkilis, Sienna Reid, Douglas Andrews, Elisabetta Povoledo, Marietta Cambareri, Martha Richardson, Lawrence Jenkens.

Thank you to my agent, Elizabeth Kaplan, who makes juggling contracts look effortless while sending the email equivalent of warm hugs from across the ocean whenever I need them.

My most ardent fan, and the one that made sure this book happened, is my editor, Michael Flamini. Thank you for your unbridled enthusiasm for all I do and your open-armed embrace of all I write. It is a complete joy to work with you.

I am extremely lucky to be working with the extraordinarily talented and generous team at St. Martins. Thank you, Gwen Hawkes, for shifting through my messy manuscript and making it whole. And to Young Lim: I love my cover! And additional thanks to the rest of the St. Martins family.

It is difficult to call what I do work, because I love it so much. Most of that is because I get such huge support and encouragement from the readers of my blog, apps, and books and those of you who tag along, joining the fun on social media. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your love and support for everything I do.

As always, my biggest thanks go to my family. To my parents, Joseph Helman and Barbara Wood, my first, and most important, travel companions up and down Italy. And to my sisters, Robin Helman Whitney and Jodi Helman Multer, for sharing the backseat of that Fiat 124 with me and for being part of this delicious adventure from the beginning and continuing to share your support and love. And thank you to my other parents: Roger Wood for your support of all I do, and to Ursula Fey Helman, who has taught me almost all I know about grace and style in an Italian setting. And I cant forget my brothers-in-law, Phillip Whitney (always willing to taste anything I cook) and Kevin Multer (my grilling guru).

This book owes much to my Italian family, the Minchillis. Thank you, Rosa, for sharing your kitchen, your life, and especially your son with me. Thank you, Stella, for sharing recipe tips and family advice over the balcony. And to Maurizio Minchilli and Loredana for opening your home in Sardinia to us and for sharing essential Sardinian tips, and my nieces, Fabia and Claudia, for your love and support.

Finally, to Domenico, Sophie, and Emma. You, more than anyone, know how much time I spent on this food-filled road Ive been traveling. Thank you for putting up with my trips away, my time spent writing, but mostly thank you for being the best companions I could hope for on all of our travels together.

Ive always traveled with food in mind. This is the way I was brought up. When people ask me what religion I am, I have to say I have a hard time figuring that one out. Yes, Im culturally Jewish, and we celebrated the high holidays, but we also put up a Christmas tree and certainly looked forward to our Easter basket.

If I have to cite a book that was our family bible growing up, that would be easier: the Michelin Red Guide. Im writing we, but Im not sure my sisters held this tome in as high regard as I did. And by growing up, I mean the formative years after I turned twelve, and life as I knew it changed drastically.

After growing up in the suburbs of St. Louis my father decided it would be a good idea to pick up and move to Rome for an indefinite period of time. While Im sure that I was as upset as any other twelve-year-old at being ripped from everything I knew, the experience has obviously had a profound and lasting effect on me. I mean, here I am, forty years later, still in Rome. My life, my career, my family, my friends: it all has to do with my fathers fateful decision.

But getting back to the Michelin Red Guide, when we moved to Rome we definitely settled in. We had an attic apartment in a Roman palazzo, I went to school, my parents shopped at the daily market in Campo dei Fiori, but we also had a car (a Fiat 124 if youre curious). We used that car to head out of Rome almost every weekend and most of the summer.

My memories of bumping around in the backseat with my sisters (there were no seat belts of course) alternate between fights of who had to sit in the middle and me ignoring the scenery to get through yet another volume of Agatha Christie (the only English language books readily available).