Kostioukovitch, “Food: italian happiness”

A harsh review (in Russian) of a book by Elena Kostioukovitch “Food: italian happiness”. It is published also in Italian as «Perché agli italiani piace parlare del cibo»; Milano : Frassinelli, 2006.

The review is rather haphazard, just like the book.

My opinion: probably the book lacks accuracy and has some strange ideas. But it perfectly matches my general impression of Italian cuisine. That is: Russians and Italians have nothing in common when it comes to food. Nope. Absolutely nothing. Food is situated in different parts of our brains. We, Russians, are stunned by the way they eat, like they are by the way we eat. Therefore, it would be stupid to look for any connection with reality in such a book. It is science-fiction, not non-fiction!

I can only compare the italian attitude to food to the russian attitude to family: more moral obligations than pleasure.

I am going to write at least once a week about my own experiences with italian food. Criticism (like “no! you can’t eat prosciutto with almond cookies!”) is not welcomed here.