Tessa Kiros - Venezia

n Venice is Italys kingdom of salt & pearls, prosecco & mermaids, bigola & polenta. Tessa Kiros travels through the city, breathing in its atmosphere & letting its bejewelled past & dark alleyways fuel her imagination. Mingled among the recipes & stunningly beautiful photography are Tessas diary jottings on the life & food of Venezia.

n Tessa Kiros was born in London to a Finnish mother and a Greek-Cypriot father. The family moved to South Africa when she was four and, at the age of 18, Tessa set off to travel and learn all she could about the worlds cultures and traditions, and new ways of living and eating. She has cooked at Londons The Groucho Club and in Sydney, Athens and Mexico. On a trip to Italy to study the language and food she met her husband Giovanni, and now lives in Tuscany.

- PIAZZETTI -

CALLE DEL ACQUA

Dear P,

There is not much I can tell you about Venice you will have to come and see it for yourself. On the train coming here I could tell from the look in the peoples eyes that they were proud, moved and longing to be in Venice. Whether returning, or going for the first time, longing to be part of the Venetian dream, of the theatre that goes on night and day among Venetian pillars. The unsuspecting car traveller could hardly guess, upon nearing Venice, that below the tangled web of highway could lie such a pearl. The city is like a beautiful mysterious woman who everyone wants to watch and stand as close to as possible; an ever-changing powerful lady who flows with the cycle of nature and commands profound respect for her beauty and uniqueness. Like a mermaid sprung unruffled from the deepest waters, she moves and gives with the tides. She is, I find, most beautiful from a distance.

These are the things I ate in Venice. From nearby shores, or inland, further out in the Veneto. Wonderful surprises let me say: things that you would never expect from glancing at the menus of the many tourist-drained locali. Mixed fried and grilled splendours, scallops served in their marvellous shells with simple dressings of olive oil, lemon and parsley. Lovely fresh and small soles, piles and heaps of shiny shells, people eating beautiful cicchetti, glasses of prosecco and other magnificent wines with meatballs, or fried sardines, and a selection of risottos suitable for any of the Doges. Wonderful ink-black spaghetti, or wholewheat pasta with a sauce of anchovies melted with onions till they die gently. From the fields beyond are faraona, or boiled splendid mixed meats with quince mustard, and liver melted with onions, and gloriously regal-red radicchios. And, I have to say, there is much to confront here: live eels and crabs, snails, raw fish pulled fresh from the waters to be plunged in salt water and served at once, if not raw.

The seafood, in particular, I am told, is best boiled in acqua di mare, so there is no danger of over-salting or under-salting the water; it is always just right !

There are times, you know, when I feel I am a part of the water. Even tucked up in my room with a shawl around me, I can smell the water. I have spray on my boots still from earlier when I was coming home to keep dry. And I can hear the water outside, splashing up out of the canal, joining with the rain and dropping back like a duet, into the canal again. And on this we are all afloat.

Venice is like when you hear a piece of music that scoops down into your soul, or notice a real tear getting ready to drop from the eye of an unlucky child. One of those rare moments when you grasp the magnificence of this world. Yes, Venice is one of those moments.

You will have to come yourself and see,

Love, Tess

Xxx