Michael Scialabba and Melissa Pellegrino have followed up The Italian Farmer's Table with another beautiful, sumptuous homage to the cuisine of Italy in The Southern Italian Farmer's Table. Over the course of five months, they studied traditional recipes and methods of cooking at more than 30 farms devoted to agriturismo. (The rise of agricultural tourism has enabled farmers across the country to continue raising crops and cooking in traditional methods so the rich history and variety of Italian cuisine may continue to flourish.)
The Southern Italian Farmer's Table is broken into chapters by geographical area. Scialabba and Pellegrino begin in Sardinia, sharing anecdotes about their stays at three agriturismo venues. They then discuss the general history of Sardinian food culture and share recipes for dishes such as papassini (spice-scented, diamond-shaped cookies) and cinghiale in agrodolce (sweet and sour Sardinian boar).
Later chapters take on other regions--including Umbria, Tuscany and Sicily--in similar fashion. For each region, Scialabba and Pellegrino share regional history, descriptions of available agriturismo options, and page upon page of gorgeous photographs of the land and people (and of the staggering variety of foods). Recipes for everything from farfalle with zucchini and mussels, a traditional Puglian dish, to Calabrian white chocolate and cayenne pepper truffles will leave your mouth watering. The Southern Italian Farmer's Table is the next best thing to an agriturismo vacation of your own; a perfect mélange of cooking and armchair traveling.--Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm