Eating Up Italy: Voyages on a Vespa

Description

In an epic scooter trip from the South to the North of Italy, award-winning food writer Matthew Fort explores the local gastronomy, culinary culture and tumultuous history of a country. Taking as his starting point Melito Di Porto Salvo, the southernmost town on mainland Italy, Fort eats, drinks, and talks his way through Calabria, rich in spices and Arabian-influences, and on to Campania, where he falls in love with Naples, but despairs of its Pizza. He crosses the remote, mountainous landscape of Molise and adjoining Abruzzo, with their delicious cheeses and traditional lamb dishes. In Emilia-Romagna, he revels in La Salama da Sugo of Ferrara and Risotto alla Pilota of Mantua. He nips into Lombardy where he falls foul of heartless hoteliers and is refreshed at a trades union rally, finally passing through Piedmont where the cooking of France and Northern Europe fuses with that of Italy. As he travels on his scooter, Fort examines the country through its food and the people who produce it. He discovers a land where regional differences are still vibrantly alive, and uncovers the rich connection between history, tradition and cuisine. The enticing sum of these parts - the dishes, producers, ingredients, consumers and eating occasions - is nothing less than a contemporary portrait of the country.

Matthew Fort is Food and Drink Editor of the 'Guardian'. He has numerous awards including two Glenfiddichs. His family comes from the Ribble Valley.

'Elizabeth David meets Jack Kerouac - around the table and on the road, this is a brilliant insight into Italian gastro-culture.' Giorgio Locatelli 'Lemon blossom and freshly baked bread waft up from every page. The most intensely greedy, fragrant and sensuously written travelogue I have ever read. A glorious, glorious feast.' Nigel Slater 'A beautifully written, humorous account of a talented food writer controlling what seems to be a midlife crisis by travelling around Italy on a Vespa.' Jamie Oliver