--- product_id: 10031563 title: "Italian Food (Penguin Classics)" brand: "elizabeth davidjulia child" price: "KD 9.49" currency: KWD in_stock: true reviews_count: 7 url: https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/10031563-italian-food-penguin-classics store_origin: KW region: Kuwait --- # Italian Food (Penguin Classics) **Brand:** elizabeth davidjulia child **Price:** KD 9.49 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Italian Food (Penguin Classics) by elizabeth davidjulia child - **How much does it cost?** KD 9.49 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.kw](https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/10031563-italian-food-penguin-classics) ## Best For - elizabeth davidjulia child enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted elizabeth davidjulia child brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Italian Food (Penguin Classics) ## Images ![Italian Food (Penguin Classics) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81QGyan21SL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Indispensible Scholarly Study. Buy It! *by B***D on July 24, 2005* `Italian Food' is one of the three major books Elizabeth David wrote in the first five years of her culinary writing career, the other two being `French Provincial Cooking' and her first, `Mediterranean Food'. The titles of two of these three books, being about `Food' and not strictly about `Cooking' is very telling of the fact that Ms. David's major books on food are simply not like any other writer of her generation.For starters, it is a mistake to see Ms. David as `the English Julia Child'. While Julia Child was possibly the most outstanding teacher of cooking methods writing in English, Ms. David was the most distinguished scholar of English, French, and Italian cooking methods and cuisine. The hallmark of that difference was that while Julia Child reworked and expanded traditional recipes so that no detail was left to chance for the amateur American cook, Ms. David goes to equal lengths to describe exactly how Italians really cook, down to the marked inexactness of their measuring.Unlike all the great modern writers in English on Italian cuisine such as Marcella Hazan, Giuliano Bugialli, and Lydia Bastianich, Ms. David not only gives us a survey of Italian ingredients, recipes, and methods, she gives us a critique of them as well. Can you possibly imagine Marcella Hazan saying that the Italians generally do not cook eggs very well?Note that Ms. David is as rigorous about her giving the correct Italian names to things as the very best of the Italian writers, but unlike the Italians, she is really seeing Italian cooking through French colored glasses. Today, we commonly think, for example, of a frittata as a distinct type of dish. Ms. David translates `frittata' into `omelet'. Her description of the technique is perfect, something even Mario Batali would be proud to quote, but he may object to the interpretation of the dish as seen by `the F country'.The importance of Ms. David's achievement, which required a full year's research in Italy, can only be appreciated when you realize that she was working in a climate of opinion in England which saw Italian cuisine as very dull, being nothing more than variations on pasta and veal. As we are well aware today, Ms. David found an enormous wealth of regional diversity in ingredients, methods, and even language, as the same pasta shape can be called three or four different names in different parts of the country.Since this is a critical and analytical look at Italian cooking, it is done by type of dish rather than by region. And, the book is not intended to be a `complete' survey of Italian dishes. There are a few well known dishes such as `pasta puttanesca' or `timbales' which are not here, and some, such as `spaghetti alla carbonara' which are found under a slightly different name, `Maccheroni alla carbonara' (which is actually more appropriate, as many types of pasta shapes are done with this eggy preparation).One of the many things that stand out in this book is how well Ms. David's personality and point of view come out on practically every page. In a recent competition for `The next Food Network Star', the judges stated over and over that the contestants must project who they were while presenting the culinary material. Like her great contemporaries, M.F.K. Fisher and Julia Child, this is certainly one thing which Elizabeth David does to great effect. I was especially pleased when she spoke of her connection to the much older travel writer, Norman Douglas. While Ms. David's biography did not clearly reveal the source of Elizabeth's love of food and food writing, the statements in Ms. David's own `Italian Food' make it clear that the elder Norman Douglas was her primary mentor in establishing her professional interest in food and writing about it at a very high standard.Ms. David's high standards are evident when you compare her writing with that of Tony May in his recent handbook, `Italian Cuisine' where I found several mistakes in identifying ingredients. While the culinary content was sound, Mr. May, and his publisher's copy editors, had relatively low standards for factual accuracy.A quick look at the back of `Italian Cooking' confirms the fact that this is more a work of scholarship than of a simple book on cookery. There are appendices of bibliographies on both cooking and tourism and notes on wine. One may need to be a little careful with any references, especially on wine and travel, as much in this area has changed in the last 50 years.Short of stumbling across an autographed copy of the hardcover edition with the original illustrations, you will want to refer to the revised edition, first published by Penguin Books in 1963, as this edition incorporates most of the footnotes into the main text, as the footnoted material was largely segregated due to the 1954 rationing of food in England.While Ms. David had several major culinary writing disciples, especially Jane Grigson and Claudia Roden, I believe the only place you will find writing at her level of scholarly criticism is from the leading modern columnists such as John Thorne, Jeffrey Steingarten, and James Villas.You may not want to cook from this book on a daily basis, but as I have, I believe you can use this as your primary source of Italian recipes, and be all the wiser for choosing this volume. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Delicious! *by L***G on March 5, 2007* I have an old Penguin paperback version of this book, in my possession since 1966, held together with duct tape, speckled with with dots of olive oil, pesto and marinara from all these long years of use so it was with great delight that I found this new version on Amazon. It is a standard that I return to again and again for Mrs. David's keen understanding of what makes Italian cusine so superb; impeccable ingredients, careful attention to method and restraint. The recipes from this book taste the most like food I've eaten in Italy because Italian food, while layered with many nuances and flavors is essentially quite simple relying on exquisite freshness and finesse. Elizabeth David brings that lesson home in her wonderfully literate and direct voice sometimes reminding and sometimes demanding what the recipes are expecting from you. As is her wont the book is filled with asides and quotes from Italian writers and thinkers; F.Marinetti, the Italian futurist of the 1930s and Apicius from 30 A.D. and a line like this from Guiseppe Marotta, the Neopolitan writer, who says about spaghetti: "The important thing to remember is to adapt your dish of spaghetti to circumstances and your state of mind". She wins me over with her charming/demanding use of the English language, her dry sense of humor and her obvious love of her subject. Many of the recipes in this book have become part of my repetoire ( Minestra Verde, Budino di Pollo in Brodo, Casoeula, Carote al Marsala & Pesche Ripiene to name a few) while others are simply informative about Italian food and culture. This book, originally published in 1954, holds it's own right now in the 21st century and is a tantalizing and wonderful adventure in cooking and eating. For anyone who enjoys Italy and Italian food this book will give years of service and pleasure. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ If you're hungry for Italian then this book's for you. *by L***L on August 24, 2014* The food is scrumptious, the directions easy to follow. An assortment of eating delights. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/10031563-italian-food-penguin-classics](https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/10031563-italian-food-penguin-classics) --- *Product available on Desertcart Kuwait* *Store origin: KW* *Last updated: 2026-05-28*