Cucina Di Calabria: Treasured Recipes and Family Traditions from Southern Italy

Regeniol recipes from Italy not found in other cookbooks.

I can still see my mother rolling the dough out on the specially covered tabletop. I knew that whatever she was creating it would be delicious! This book brought back to life the recipes that my mother used for our daily as well as festive meals, ala Calabrese. Here are the recipes that seem to be the basics for Calabrian food preparations. They follow the simple rules for maintenance of nutrition, satisfaction of anyone's hunger pangs, and easy to follow preparation directions. Ms. Palmer's recipe for 'Petrali' brought back so many warm memories of Easter, Christmas, and New Year celebrations that took place in our home. The 'Bistecca alla Pizzaiola' recipe was one of our family favorites. We always skillfully sopped up the flavorful tomato sauce as we ate the fork tender meat, always leaving a clean plate. This cook book is not only recipes, but a history of the Calabrian people. A story of who they are, where they came from, who influenced them to become what they are today, a wonderfully resourceful people from the toe of the Italian boot.

I bought Cucina Di Calabria from my mother who is from a small town in Calabria. She said it is her favorite cook book, and I have to note that she has a great collection of cookbooks. A lot of the recipes bring back memories. She has also learned different ways to make her favorite dishes and she loves the history piece. I have to admit, even though I am not a cook, I loved reading the history that went with a lot of the recipes. My cousins and I often comment that some of these recipes could be lost forever if they are not passed down. It's great to see them all in a book. We try to keep the traditions every Christmas and Easter. This is a wonderful collection of recipes that bring us memories of our heritage. Any Calabrian would really appreciate this book!

I knew this was a paperback, and that it contained black & white drawings. Still I was disappointed. Once I got into the book a little I realized what a crime it was that this book was not offerred in hardcover, beautifully illustrated with high-quality photographs on fine paper. This is a book that deserves better than a budget presentation.If you are the kind of person who eats a steak on a paper plate, or drinks wine from a plastic cup, than this book in this format will work for you. It doesn't work for me.I have been disappointed like this before with Amazon. Amazon really needs to improve their "look inside" function.I give the content a 4. I give the format a 2. Overall I gave this a 3.

This is a really nice book. I've done many of the recipes and they've all been delicious. My father is from Calabria and my family cooks a lot of the same dishes. I do feel that sometimes the dishes are more Italian-American vs. Calabrese but that's fine. I see both styles represented. My family here in the US cooks very differently from my family still in Italy and I think she pays homage to both kinds of cooking. Some of my families dishes aren't in here though and it shows how differently people cook from one small town to the next in Italy. I do recommend the book because her recipes work and it's about time someone paid tribute to Calabrese cooking! Yum!

I enjoyed Out of Calabria immensely particularly because my maternal Grandfather immigrated to the USA from Dipignano, Cosenza in the Calabria Region when he was 16 along with his Mother,Father and brother. For the last seven years I scoured cookbooks looking for my Grandfather's, Grandmother's and Mother's recipes (they never wrote them down) and while I knew how to prepare some of them, there were many I could not remember and I was thrilled to find them in the pages of this wonderful cookbook. The history and verbal images of the landscape of this region vividly augmented the stories told by my Grandfather. Whether your family has roots in Calabria or not, and if you love Italian food, this is a cookbook well worth having.

I received this book in the mail just the other day and I have stayed up late nights reading it. I just love it. My father who was orphaned by 11 years old used to talk about his mother's wonderful cooking. He especially remembered a type of roll that had an anchovy in it that would melt in your mouth. Lo and behold there was the recipe (zeppole). How I wish he was still with us so that I could make it for him. I recognize many of the dishes I vaguely remember as a child and can't wait to try them. I also very much enjoyed the essays about Calabria. I have many cookbooks but this is my favorite.

Nice cookbook, except, I ordered a new one, but it looked slightly used. Only a problem since it is a shower gift. I would still recommend this cookbook.