Venezia: Food and Dreams

Some books evoke a strong response in us, others transport us like time travel machines. We can almost feel the cobbled streets or smell the sea. The dark winding alleys and strange yet gorgeous leaning buildings.Kiros does it again* with her part memoir, part travel porn. She invites us back to Venice before the floods, before COVID19. THE VENICE.. with winding, narrow streets, canals and bridges.There are recipes for Cicchetti and a photo of a tiny dog in a traveling dress, both archetypical scenes in Venezia.Who among us does not want to see gondoliers with their gondolas like prim scythe cutting silently through canals? Will he duck or just lean to avoid that small bridge?Ah.. he is a leaner, is body slants and he rests against his pole, gliding through. Could you almost SEE that? Would a lovely Risotto di Verdure punctuate that memory And? (Go to page 166)...And the heavy,, carved doors and the long, skinny Italian shoes 👞..eccentric dressing and the elegant hand waving.Venice can be of any century and of every century, look at the people hurrying by in Medieval dress...with a BRIEFCASE?Italy is a land marked by Great age and a seemingly easy way of wearing terrible beauty and loss.. The most ugly meals are beautiful and composed, here.Rotted planks and crumbling buildings which would have been ruins in other parts of the world seem like necessary decay as if even in that, there is beauty.Kiros gives us recipes not normally seen in cookbooks. The kind an insider whispers..they know where to get the best bussolai, then bread bangles you can chew like pale teething rings (page 027) what about gnocchi with Shrimp? She juxtaposed a pristine bowl with humble food against a backdrop of decadent Murano millefiori glass... do you remember that Venice once kept glass makers imprisoned on the small island and to leave without permission meant death? So Intent were the Italians to keep their world renown glass a secret. (Pg 117).Read any page and you will stay there for a minute. Perhaps lost in memory or if you have never been, in yearning.This is the real deal. Many of the photos bring an almost visceral since of deja vu...turn the pages and come to Venice. See? We are almost there and look..Tessa has left us a beautiful bit of velvet ribbon to mark our place.Almost 300 pages to eat, and get lost in.*if you can find them and love to read cookbooks or know someone who does. Then collect all the books by Tessa Kiros.

If you have never visited Venice -- lovely Venezia -- you will long to go. If you have been, you will want to return. The photographs and travel memoir capture this unique city wonderfully. Its colors, quirks, the silvery blue sea -- evoked in words and images here. I like especially the evocations of daily life as well as carnival extravaganza. But above all, the food.I have so far made three of the 105 recipes: spaghetti alla busara (spaghetti with scampi and tomatoes); risotto di zucca (risotto with winter squash and pancetta); and, twice, risotto con la verza (risotto with sausage and cabbage). Every dish was a huge success -- the directions are easy to follow and the dish looks exactly as described. I liked especially the simplicity of the dishes -- these are true Italian fare dependent on fresh ingredients. Also, the inclusion of an old-fashioned attached velvet ribbon to mark one's place was enchanting.Sometimes books like this feature such obscure ingredients that they become more coffee table curiosities than actual usable cookbooks. Not this one: even though I live in the middle of the country, I have had not problem finding the needed ingredients. Since Venice is a coastal town, the majority of the recipes focus on seafood which might, for those who do not like seafood, make the book a bad fit. But other than this possible small issue, I highly recommend this book. I intend to buy several more copies for holidays gifts this year.Although many reviewers of this book appear to argue that it is too beautiful to use, I have to disagree. Who says a cookbook cannot be beautiful? Plastic cookbook holders work wonderfully well to conserve a book like this and the recipes are simple, easy and very worthwhile.

I should have known from the title and the cover, but this book is almost all seafood recipes. I don't think that was made clear in the description of the book. Unfortuntely, I hate seafood so I returned it.I should say though, it is a beautiful book (all of this author's books are beautiful) with great photography that capture this beautiful city. I haven't been disappointed by the author's other books either.

Author Tessa Kiros is a very creative writer and this book is put together in a way that I especially appreciate. It is one of the most beautiful books that I own, complete with a lovely cover and black velvet page saver. The photos inside are charming and recipes delicious. It would make a scrumptious gift for someone!

Planned on giving this out as a gift but when I received it, looks to have been used does not look new. For what I paid I was not happy. Next time just buying something like this from store.

The book is a marvelous culinary and art book.It's a combination of typical recipes with splendid photos of the city.These photos are from famous places and specialities of La Serenissima - as the Murano's crystals- and also of little details.The composition of each food's plate is an art masterpiece.The text,as a diary,is charming and poetical that only a Venice's lover can writeI recommend this book for all that like Italian cuisine and value beautiful photography.

If you are missing Venezia, even if you don't love to cook it's food (though I sure do), get this just to look at the pictures to feel heartsick for the place... Very well written cookbook that gives the feel for the ingredients and how they should come along as the recipes progress...

The book is beautifully laid out with elegant pages, formal recipies and artifully depicted pictures. You will love the list of favorites and the not -so-often made dishes that typically get pushed aside because they are to much work to make, but when you want to make that statement, it' will be at your fingertips.

This is a visually beautiful book that I enjoy looking at just to see the photos that take me back to venice and make me daydream and salivate!I have to say that despite many many lovely recipes I have only made a few as the ones I want to eat (right now!) tend to have too many ingredients that I don't typically have lying around my house. However an organised or more stocked up cook would be much more able to just pick it up and make things without a special shopping trip.I would highly recommend to anyone who a) loves beautiful cook books b) is happy to spend time to read and follow recipes for things they may not usually make c) is happy to source ingredients that may not be readily available.I would not recommend to anyone who a) counts how many recipes they use from a book and works it out as a percentage and is unhappy if it's less than 10% b) those who don't like cook book pages to be wasted on 'photos' c) those who live millions of miles from shops/ingredientsI've given it 5 stars as I think that it is beautiful, the recipes I have done are delicious and I'm sure the others would be too if I was organised enough to get round to them! Enjoy!

This book operates on two levels. If you've been lucky enough to have been to Venice and sample it's glorious food it is a reminder of wonderful meals in a romantic and historical setting. If you haven't, it opens a window into a world that belongs to Casanova, The Doge, smoky mists on the Lagoon, right up to the evenings consuming Tramezzini and Belini in Harrys Bar with Ernest Hemmingway. The recepies are simple, yet delicious and the explainations of the origins of the various dishes make a good read in themselves.

Enjoying this book

I had intended to give this book as a gift, but it seems to be out of print, so I ordered this one believing its condition would be good. It wasn't torn, but definitely well used. The content of the book is beautiful. I have a copy of my own. I was disappointed that I couldn't give this one as intended and a bit annoyed to have wasted my money.

Perfect for dreaming of Venice, its scenery and food. Despite some reviews, I loved the way the book was presented as it added to the glamour and I have to say I am not usually easily seduced!