A Taste of Venice: At Table with Brunetti

This is a must have for anyone who loves Italian food and/or visiting Venice. The recipes are Venetian and absolutely wonderful! We had 2 of them already and found the recipes easy-to-follow, with excerpts from many of Donna Leon's Brunetti series and delightful illustrations through-out. Recipes are well written and quite simple, using every day ingredients (and if not available, easy to substitute something). Arrived very fast and good selection of prices from new to gently used.

A superb blend of the flavors of Venice, the beauty of this remarkable city and the colorful characters who influence the author's life long relationship with culinary experiences. A wonderful read and more.

I wanted this book for a long time and to get it at this price was a surprise and get delivery from GB in less then a week amazed me. Flawless new condition.

Loved the authentic Venetian recipes. Finally a book of local recipes written in English. I am a frequent traveler to Venice and these recipes are spot on.

Exactly what I wanted, reminds me of the great food I had in Venice, reminiscing with Guido and Paola Brunetti, and now I can eat some of the appetising meals Paola made.

Donna Leon’s Brunetti books are fabulous when it comes to food descriptions. If you’re anything like me, and have started to crave some good Italian food while reading them, this is an enjoyable read. It was written by Donna Leon’s best friend and talented cook, Roberta (Biba) Pianaro. The other day I decided that I will no longer review a cookbook without trying out at least one recipe. I can’t believe that I didn’t make this rule for myself earlier ! What was I thinking? I mean honestly, I don’t think that it’s right to review a cookbook without trying out at least one recipe! Well, I made an entire meal from the recipes here the other night and everyone was happy. We had Chickpea Balls for the appetizer. Our main course was Lamp Chops with Tomatoes and Basmati Rice. For dessert, we had Oven-Baked Apples with Confectioner’s Custard and Cream. They were delicious. Now, as far as cookbooks go, this book is okay, just not the best. The layout is not as organized as I like cookbooks to be. Also, there are a few recipes that contain ingredients which aren’t available where I live, and may be unavailable to others also. Mind you, this is not only a cookbook. There are excerpts from the Brunetti books, as well as essays with insights into Venetian life. Some of my favorite quotes: "Italian life is filled with food: people talk about it constantly, spend a great deal of time shopping for it and preparing it, and devote a joyous amount of time to eating it. One has but to pay close attention to them when they talk about food, or when they cook and eat, to begin to understand how fundamental it is to the living of a happy life and how vital it is to Italian culture." “One of the first things that was said to me when I came to Italy forty years ago, speaking not a word of the language, was ‘Mangia, mangia, ti fa bene.’ Eat, eat, it’s good for you.”

Bought for friend who loves cooking and the Donna Leon Brunetti books. As this is a paperback, I wasn't sure what to expect, but the quality is excellent. The cover has a gloss finish and the pages are printed on what appears to be a matt art paper, with a lovely smooth feel. The recipes look easy to follow and there are cute little illustrations in colour. Really pleased with this.

Très sympa. Des recettes italiennes classiques mais agréables ! Ça change des lasagnes et autres involtinis... Et les passages de livres ajoutent au plaisir.

IMPORTANT: This is the same book as "Brunetti's Cookbook". The recipes are original, but laborious and time-comsuming. Most interesant for me are the additional informations about the origen or cultural meaning of some of them.

I've tried a few recipes and found them to be very good and tasty. It's also lovely to have extracts from the books that are relevant to the recipes.

Le livre est une merveille. j'aurais du l'acheter avant, les recettes faciles et variées un must have pour la cuisine italienne