From SEED to PLATE

This book is a delight, a little confused but in a really good way, an identity crisis, unsure whether to be a cookbook, a gardening book or a guide to Italy. Greatfully it is all of these things. The best way to get fresh, tasty ingredients is to grow your own. Italians have known this for centuries, and no Italian house, apartment, school or office is complete unless it has a little bit of space in which to grow tomatoes, herbs, salad leaves and whatever else can be crammed in. This book covers that very Italian tradition of growing to cook, using recipes handed down from cook to cook, often through generations. Paolo Arrigo shares his family's practical traditions and 'passione' for food, including the best varieties to grow, offering growing tips and explaining how all the resulting delicious produce should be best prepared, cooked and preserved. It Includes recipes from Paolo's own family, delicatessens, favourite restaurants and chefs such as Georgio Locatelli, Antony Worrall Thompson, Rose Prince, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and many more. This is an excellent book, the recipes are easy to follow and they inspire you to want to grow stuff yourself (rather than simply buy it) just to then eat it - the Italian way.