Taste: My Life through Food,
Stanley Tucci
Synopsis
From award-winning actor and food obsessive Stanley Tucci comes an intimate and charming memoir of life in and out of the kitchen.
Before Stanley Tucci became a household name with The Devil Wears Prada, The Hunger Games, and the perfect
Negroni, he grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the table. He shared the magic of those meals with us in The Tucci Cookbook and The Tucci Table, and now he takes us beyond the recipes and into the stories behind them.
Taste is a reflection on the intersection of food and life, filled with anecdotes about growing up in Westchester, New York, preparing for and filming the foodie films Big Night and Julie & Julia, falling in love over dinner, and teaming up with his wife to create conversation-starting meals for their children. Each morsel of this gastronomic journey through good times and bad, five-star meals and burnt dishes, is as heartfelt and delicious as the last.
Written with Stanley’s signature wry humour and nostalgia, Taste is a heartwarming read that will be irresistible for anyone who knows the power of a home-cooked meal
Richard says
Entertaining and authentic, like the actor himself.
Having just read another cook’s memoir, one which was incredibly well written and very engaging from paragraph to paragraph, page after page, sentence by sentence, my mindset was probably setting the bar too high for another author. Tucci’s book reinforced this mindset at the beginning. However, each chapter seemed to kick things up, improve readability, somewhat like a stew or a soup. Give it time, let it simmer and it gets better. Tucci’s book did.
Like the actor, the book grows on you. The more you see, the more you like it. Tucci is a likeable actor. The book not only reinforced my opinion of the man but the anecdotes about his family, his grandmother, his parents, his wives (his first wife, Kate, died of breast cancer) and his children bolstered its appeal and my appreciation of the man.
He writes in an authentic manner, calling a spade a spade when it is suitable to do so. He includes many recipes, written in an easy style and an easy-to-prepare sequence. I had his egg poached in a tomato sauce as a supper. One of the most delightful meals I have ever made. Tasty, delightful and tremendously easy to prepare. Somewhat like his book, tasty, delightful and tremendously easy to read.
Like some pieces of meat will have an occasional bit of gristle. Tucci has a gristly section in his book when he describes his battle with oral cancer. Very ironic, a man who almost lives to eat is afflicted with a malady that prohibits him from eating normally. One can feel for the man and his struggle was ultimately successful concluding in full recovery after a long and tortuous battle. We join him in his prayers of thanks.
Taste: My Life through Food is an enjoyable read, made more so because the actor is so appealing himself. The recipes are excellent, tempting the reader to get back into the kitchen and give it a go. I have more of them to try out.
