Tuesday, 1 March 2022

A bit of history and a lot of food ....... Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy

Now I have long admired the work of Stanley Tucci in a host of films, and recently I listened to him read from his book "Taste: My Life Through Food"  on the wireless.

Naples, 2018
All of which means I watched his television programme, "Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy".

"Academy Award nominee Stanley Tucci travels across Italy to discover the secrets and delights of the country’s regional cuisines. 

Tucci comes prepared with a bottomless appetite for it all, showing us how the diversity of Italian cooking offers a gateway through which you can glimpse Italy’s history and culture. 

Naples is the third-largest city in Italy, but its history and beauty has been tainted with underdog status from close association with Vesuvius – the world’s most dangerous volcano, the Camorra – a notorious branch of the local mafia - and poverty. 

In the historic Spanish quarter, Stanley meets professor Elisabetta Moro, who takes him to the last authentic fried pizza maker, Fernanda’s. Stanley embarks on a whirlwind tour to find the freshest mozzarella and the best San Marzano tomatoes with Enzo Coccia, the proud king of Neapolitan pizza, to learn the secret art of arguably the world’s best pizza. 

The local Roma population have joined forces with the Neapolitans, and Stanley samples their mouth-watering culinary fusions before continuing his journey to the island of Ischia and the beautiful Amalfi Coast to revisit some spectacular regional dishes. 

Neapolitans have survived volcanoes, earthquakes, pandemics, war and poverty. In defiant life-affirming responses, they have given the world incredible dishes to be shared and enjoyed by billions. 

A RAW Production for CNN Original Series"*

And it was all it promised to be.

Location; Italy

Picture; Naples from the collection of Saul Simpson, 2018

*Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0bncnd5/stanley-tucci-searching-for-italy-series-1-1-naples-and-the-amalfi-coast

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