I’ve been writing a lot about food lately. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s because there is so little here in California I want to eat—besides the basil and peaches from our newly purchased garden I mean. Yes, I am certainly lusting after the wonderful raw ingredients found in Italian markets…and interacting with the people who sell and raise it all.
Certainly my absence from Italy and the heat have cavorted like a couple little trolls to create a touch of madness in me—so much so I have taken to writing about a gourmet treatment of the common garden slug.
So this morning it’s sweltering and I’m at the computer. Dozing. Suddenly a barrage of tweets lights up my rightmost monitor (from, you know, that twitter thing). The subject is an interview with Judy Witt Francini of Divina Cucina fame, the woman who penned Secrets from my Tuscan Kitchen.
Judy talks faster than a wine glass falls toward a tile floor. She talks of chicken wattles, cow stomachs, why you can (and should) eat raw pork sausage in Italy and there’s even something about “Medieval Viagra” which goes right over my head. She tells you where to eat it, too. Yes, it’s edible Viagra, the best kind.
Before you know it you’ve been given a history of her life in Italy as well as the history of eating in Florence (along with commentary on why eating is different in other regions of Italy and why you tip too damn much).
You are whisked into another world. It’s a good world. It’s got wine and chicken wattles. It’s got lampredotto stands in case you get a hankering for the fourth stomach because you’re getting tired of the first. It’s got a big market called San Lorenzo. It’s a good world brimming with good things to eat.
Dang, that woman has said pretty much all that needs to be said. She’s cornered the market on the markets. What more could be written about eating in Italy that needs the likes of me to say it?
I’m outta here. In the meantime, you can listen to: The One, the Only, Ms. Divina Cucina
You can also watch our video of her booksigning at Dario Cecchini’s place.
I gotta take a nap or something.