recipes in this book belong to an era of food grown for its own sake, not for profit, "
Food writing excellence. Gray and her husband, a sculptor, lived in various rural areas of the Mediterranean in order to be near marble quarries, A passionate historical record, a joy to read, I especially loved all the information about edible wild plants,
Consult this if you want to make pig brains into a smooth sauce, learn how to abolish the acrid taste when preparing fox or badger "applies equally to goat", or are in the mood to try Calves Tongues with Morello Cherry Sauce.
An essential read for anyone who loves food writing, This book is half recipes and indexes of common ingredients in mediterranean cooking and half meditation on a simple, slow, communitydriven way of life that feels as though it must have been disappearing even in the time it was written.
The recipes are about simplicity of technique, old ways handed down over generations, the best ways to bring out flavors inherent in good ingredients, and while I don't know if I'll necessarily cook from them often, I feel inspired by depth of knowledge of the craft of cooking and the love of food that they display.
This is the kind of book that makes you want to roll up your sleeves and cook over an open flame, seek out the freshest fish, try cooking with an overlooked ingredient.
My used copy is already dogeared and underlined and I can already see myself coming back to it over and over again for inspiration.
This is delightful window on the kind of rural life in southern Europe, which must have all but disappeared now,
I've had this book on my shelves for many years, ever since I visited the village of Apollona in Naxos in the lates.
I've dipped into a few of the recipes from time to time, as evidenced by the stains on some of the pages, but I've never read the book from cover to cover.
It's a fascinating evocation of traditional ways of growing, harvesting and eating, and people's connections to the land, peppered with anecdotes of the author's interactions with the locals, and descriptions of the strange and sparse places in which she lived with 'the sculptor', who worked with the local stone in each location.
You wouldn't even begin to try many of the recipes, but the depth of knowledge, and the history behind the ingredients and methods make for an interesting and satisfying read.
This is a strange time to be alive, and I am a strange age to be, Although, honestly Every age is a strange one to be, I am old enough to remember life without a lot of technology, and to have been raised by people without a lot of technology, and I am young enough to have had enough technology that I would look like a spaceman to my great grandparents.
I feel like all I've been doing for the pasttoyears, though, is watching things disappear,
That's why this book is a pleasure, A really weird, interesting pleasure, Patience Gray lived among Mediterranean peasants for a while, trailing a particular vein of marble she wanted to work with, She cooked in ancient ways, It might as well have been thes rather than thes, This is a lot of fun to read, even if you only have a passing interest in food, because it's like escaping to another world that you sort of know a trace of, from something your grandmother maybe said, a long time ago.
Given that most of my favorite food bloggers, podcasters and writers cite this as one of their favorite books, I was predestined to love this and love it I did.
It's a fascinating, wonderfully escapist glimpse into Gray's several decades cooking, foraging, and documenting the disappearing food traditions of remote locales within Italy, Greece, and Spain.
She was married to Norman Mommens a sculptor and it seems all the good marble is located in ancient mediterranean villages evocative of classic Greek myths and a deep nostalgia for a simpler if brutally ascetic way of living.
In fact, she repeatedly insists how very difficult and punishing it is to survive in these oftromanticized places, but it wasn't at all convincing! Take this passage from her time in Apollona, Greece:
The bricks were cemented at the precise distance to support a large black pot over a twig fire.
. . This was ideal for summer, and as the sea was at the door, I was able to light a fire, start the pot with its contents cooking, plunge into the sea at midday and by the time I had swum across the bay and back, the lunch was ready and the fire a heap of ashes.
I mean, come on! Yes, I love innovation and progress and technology and all the attendant perks of civilization, However, by the end of the book I just wanted to sell all of my belongings and go forage for weeds and wild walnuts before enjoying a glass of bootleg grappa with Patience and Norman.
And apparently they got this a lot, In one of the final passages, a visitor exclaims what a paradise their home/life is, The sculptor replies "Ma l'inferno purtròppo è tanto più comodo!"/ "Here is a real paradise, But hell is so much more convenient! An iconic line that will stay with me for years to come, Classic book about the people and cuisine of Tuscany, Catalonia, The Cycladesamp Apulia from around the mid sixties where British expats were still something of an anomaly.
Beautifully written, literary in style with humorous moments as in the chapter on The Threat of Bombardment following beans consumption and a mention of the salutatory effects of garlic.
Gray documents the lives and seasons of the people around her with warmth and integrity,
Seasons, places, and people are portrayed through a literary style, and historical annexes are outlined as appropriateClassic Greek amp Roman history as well as science amp intellectual debate.
One cannot help but think Gray was a brilliant person, . . I cannot help but think of her research in putting this whole thing together,
Re some of the criticisms of not finding a recipe youd use try a simple spaghetti amp garlic, or uncooked tomato sauce, or the infamous double sauce all, easy to prepare recipes.
Sure there are recipes for wild boar, fox, pheasant, amp rabbit which most North Americans probably wont use, but you read this book not only for the recipes but to learn about a people and a cuisine.
Re the weeds of the title Gray uses Latin names as well as local amp popular British nomenclature so looking up vegetable species in a guidebook is possible.
Substitutes are listed as well,
Gray has documented the culinary history of a time and a place, and is well versed in the philosophy of eat fresh, eat local well before it became popular amp trendy.
Highly recommend for people who love food and cooking and appreciate a literary and historic read, A charming look back for us and the writer who went as far back asfromwhen she wrote the book, It's about eating locally with the seasons, foraging and making do with what you have,
Taken directly from the text: "The current of this book swirls to and for between five areas of the Mediterranean, In order of time, the places where the author and the sculptor have lived are:
CASTELPOGGIO, a mountain town above Carrara
VENDRELL near Tarragona in Catalonia
APPOLANA on Naxos
LA BAROZZO in the vineyards above Carrara
above GARDASULLAGO in the Veneto
MASSERIA SPIGOLIZZI in the Basso Salento, Apurlia
I think my favorite chapter was edible weeds "Who wants to eat a good supper should eat a weed
of every kind" I believe as my Italian ancestors did that bitter weeds are a tonic and this chapter goes into great detail and includes recipes.
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