Taste: My Life Through Food

by Stanley Tucci

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A delightful memoir by the actor and star of the CNN series: Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. Food has always been an important part of his life, playing a role in various key moments in his personal and professional career. With a few Italian cookbooks under his belt, it's clear this is more than just a hobby to Tucci. With great wit and warmth, this memoir is a wonderful read that makes fans love him even more.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Named a Notable Book of 2021 by NPR and The Washington Post

From award-winning actor and food obsessive Stanley Tucci comes an intimate and charming memoir of life in and out of the kitchen.

Stanley Tucci grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the kitchen 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 savory recipes and into the compelling stories behind them.​

Taste is a reflection on the intersection of food and life, filled with anecdotes about his growing up in Westchester, New York; preparing for and shooting the foodie films Big Night and Julie & Julia; falling in love over dinner; and teaming up with his wife to create meals for a multitude of children. Each morsel of this gastronomic journey through good times and bad, five-star meals and burned dishes, is as heartfelt and delicious as the last.

Written with Stanley’s signature wry humor, Taste is for fans of Bill Buford, Gabrielle Hamilton, and Ruth Reichl—and anyone who knows the power of a home-cooked meal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781982168018
Publisher:	Gallery Books
Publication date:	10/05/2021
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	1,134
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Italian American actor Stanley Tucci was born in New York in 1960. He has directed five films and appeared over seventy films, including The Devil Wears Prada, Easy A, The Terminal, and Road to Perdition, as well as more than a dozen plays, on and off Broadway. He starred in Julie & Julia, opposite Meryl Streep, and The Lovely Bones, for which he earned his first Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actor. He is the winner of two Golden Globes and two Emmys. Tucci’s foody TV show, Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, recently aired on CBS and is nominated for an Emmy.

Editorial Reviews

"Through food and scenes of family life, Stanley Tucci shares both his personal story and his celebration of all-things taste. With tales from peanut butter sandwiches to lobster in Maine, with recipes from the perfect Negroni to his wife’s roast potatoes, he draws us to his table. Come hungry for the food, the cocktails, the gossip and the fun. Just never, ever, cut up your spaghetti." –Yotam Ottolenghi

"An instant classic, Stanley Tucci's TASTE is as captivating, simple, charming and insanely moreish as the best Italian food. Take it to bed with you and you will fall asleep dreaming you're in Italy. But take it to the kitchen and you will find yourself using it as often as a pan or a peeler." –Stephen Fry

"A delicious story of appetite, family and pasta. A serious amount of pasta. In this gloriously written memoir, the ever tasteful Stanley Tucci invites us to his table and feeds us all the good stuff." –Jay Rayner

"It’s impossible to read this without becoming ravenous!” –Nigella Lawson

"Our relationship with fire and food has shaped us as human beings, it connects us in a unique way, to ourselves, the people we love and this beautiful planet we live on. It is a wonderful story of and told by a wonderful man through his food memories. It is as infectious as it is delicious, as funny as it is insightful. The only reason to put this book down, is to go cook and eat from it.” –Heston Blumenthal

"Funny, heart-breaking, fascinating, intimate and beautifully-written.” –Kate Mosse

"This superb book...Taste enriches the reader and establishes Tucci as one of the wisest and most generous personalities of our time." — Roger Lewis, Daily Mail

"The man, the myth, The Devil Wears Prada legend Stanley Tucci has blessed our hungry souls with a food memoir to feed our mounting appetite for the actor and cook’s wit, warmth and, let’s face it: tight polo shirts. He divulges some of his most treasured memories and stories behind favourite recipes — prepare to feel bereaved when it’s over."—Joanna Taylor, Evening Standard

"Reading this book will make you more attentive to the glorious — or modest — food on your table, and to the people with whom you are privileged to share it." —Jennifer Reese, The Washington Post

"Like the enormous layered pasta pie that starred in the 1996 movie Big Night, Stanley Tucci’s new memoir is a gastronome’s delight." —Bookpage

"Tucci is not only a prolific actor and writer, but his zest for food, travel, culture, and life is contagious." —Edith G. Tolchin, New York Journal of Books

From the Publisher

12/01/2021

Actor Tucci waxes nostalgic in his new entry into the realm of culinary memoirs, following his new CBS show Searching for Italy and two cookbooks (The Tucci Cookbook; The Tucci Table). Tucci begins with a meandering reminiscence about his early years in Westchester County, New York, with vivid descriptions of his immigrant family's Italian cooking, conveyed in an irreverent, conversational style. Later chapters delve into fare that Tucci was served by family, restauranteurs, and friends at home, on vacation, and on set—in Italy and beyond. Some anecdotes are conveyed in the form of scenes from a screenplay, adding a lively, humorous touch. Sprinkled throughout are a handful of family recipes for cocktails and memorable dishes (e.g., Spaghetti con Zucchine alla Nerano) of varying complexity and portion size. The book changes course when its focus shifts away from Tucci's own personal experiences and instead begins discussing Italian culinary history and well-known chefs and personalities (including Julia Child, who needs no introduction). Overall, an entertaining glimpse into Tucci's passion for cooking both with and for his friends and extended family. VERDICT A no-brainer for fans of Tucci or those interested in food memoirs; this heartfelt account will also appeal to anyone interested in Italian home cooking.—Rebecca Brody, Westfield State Univ., MA

Library Journal