Travel Books and Travel Guides

We can think of no better guides for the Epicurean Traveler than the Eat Smart guides. The only thing we regret is that we didn't do it first. Joan and David Peterson have put together a series of slim paperback books that speak to the heart of our passion, the varied cuisines of the globe. There are currently nine Eat Smart titles available; Turkey, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Poland, Morocco, India, and Peru. At about 140 pages, each book starts with an historical survey, then explains the regional variations. There follows a mini cookbook (20 to 25 pages), so you can experiment in your kitchen before you go, and try to recreate dishes after you return. There is even a section on mail order sources of ethnic foods, in case you can't find the proper ingredients at your local supermarket. A section on phrases used in restaurants and markets will be of enormous use in your travels, as will the menu guide and foods and flavors guide (for translations of foods and culinary terms).

Part phrase book, part cookbook, part travel book, each Eat Smart guide is the perfect guide for the Epicurean Traveler. $13.95 plus $2 shipping. Ginkgo Press, P.O. Box 5346, Madison, Wisconsin 53705
toll free 1-888-280-7060
Voice 608-233-5488
FAX 608-233-0053 .
www.ginkgopress.com.

THE FOOD LOVER'S COMPANION
TO TUSCANY
by Carla Capalbo
383 pages, softcover, Chronicle Books, S.F., Pallas Athene, London; $14
ISBN 1 873429 32 0

To purchase, click here.
reviewed by Walter Rudd

Carla Capalbo is an international phenomenon, born in New York, raised in London and Paris, and living her adult life in Italy. She gives food tours and cooking classes, and has written a previous book entitled The Ultimate Italian Cookbook. The Food Lover's Companion to Tuscany is an ambitious book, packed with information that any gastronomic traveler will find indispensable. First, what it does not do-it does not recommend hotels or inns; that's not its purpose. What it does do is to give the reader a remarkably thorough tour of Tuscany's food sources.

Capalbo covers 144 Tuscan towns, reviewing over 450 wine, olive oil, cheese, chocolate and bread producers and purveyors, delicatessens, table linen and pottery shops, produce markets, specialty food markets, bars and restaurants.

In the production of food and wine, there is always a link to the past, no matter how much new technology is employed. Perhaps that's the appeal of the subject. Most of these entries include some quotes from the owners, winemakers, chefs and artisans, giving the reader a sense of the people behind the products, and a little insight into both history and modern life in Tuscany.

Unlike some other guidebook authors, Capalbo actually seems to know her subject. Judging from the Tuscan towns I know well, she's spot on in her assessments. The guide is not a coffee table book, nor an armchair guide with a lot of photos to entice you to visit Tuscany. The assumption is that you're already there, and what you need most is cogent information. In that, The Food Lover's Companion to Tuscany succeeds admirably.

EATING IN ITALY
A traveler's guide to the hidden gasatronomic pleasures of Northern Italy
The True Insider's Guide, Revised and Updated
by Faith Heller Willinger
Photographs by Faith Echtermeyer
404 pages, $20.00 William Morrow & Co., New York
reviewed by Aaron Thede
To purchase this book, click here.

Faith Willinger runs a cooking school in Florence and is the author of the excellent and highly readable RED, WHITE AND GREENS , the Italian way with vegetables. Her new book, EATING IN ITALY , includes over 1,600 entries dealing with restaurants, hotels and other peripheral interests such as museums, ceramics, wine bars, glassware, tableware and linens.
Yet for all its breadth, it is notable more for its egregious omissions than its inclusions. Many of the more interesting restaurants in certain areas are simply overlooked. Some cities are totally excluded (San Gimignano, for example), and some of the reviews are out of date. This latter criticism is a given in a work of this breadth, as it's impossible to amass this much information in a short amount of time, but the errors nonetheless stand out.
One of the more annoying aspects is the hotel recommendations. Hundreds are simply listed, without review, without comment. Anyone can get a list of hotels. If you don't know if it's good, great, bad or indifferent, why include it? Lastly, Faith Echtermeyer is one of the most respected wine/food photographers around, but her photography is wasted, reduced to tiny little black-and-whites on cheap paper.
Despite its faults, about half of EATING IN ITALY is not only useful, but provides personal gastronomic insight by an insider. The sections on Milan and on Florence (where Willinger lives) are particularly thorough, though there are a few catty comments that cause the reader to wonder if the review in question is objective or vindictive. EATING IN ITALY is perhaps best reserved as an addendum to Fred Plotkin's classic ITALY FOR THE GOURMET TRAVELER (Little Brown) .

Travel Books & Guides