Ismail Merchant*s Florence: Filming and Feasting in Tuscany/70 Recipes

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Florence is a worthy setting for Ismail Merchant, whether filming or feasting. He is the very model of a Renaissance man. . . . When Catherine de Médicis married the King of France, she brought her Florentine cooks with her and introduced Paris to the essentials of Tuscan cuisine: the simple harmony of the best and most fresh of every ingredient. Like Catherine, Ismail opens new worlds to his friends, his guests, and his audiences. Dame Maggie Smith

Ismail Merchant s lively account of the filming of the hugely successful A Room with a View is really a song in praise of the Tuscan table. Through vivid prose and extraordinary photographs, Merchant enables the reader to fully experience Tuscan cuisine whether dining at Florence s famous Il Cavallino restaurant or in the stately Villa Maiano, whether enjoying a picnic spread out on a hillside or sampling the fruit and vegetables fresh from the farms that give Tuscan cooking its incomparable quality. To satisfy readers inevitable hunger, Merchant provides 70 recipes, from antipasti to desserts, that can be prepared successfully in any kitchen, anywhere.

A talented film producer adds to his growing culinary work by launching the first of many cook-alogues about cities where he has filmed and feasted. The site this first time is Florence and environs, where he filmed his beloved A Room with a View. In fact, the 70 recipes are almost incidental to Merchant's gastronomic tour of the area, the accompanying photography, and tales of the film's near disasters and final successes. Scouting for locations starts, of course, with a meal; the actual shoot is enhanced by, yes, yet more feasts and Merchant's impromptu dinners. The dishes reflect very simple Tuscan fare with more than a few of the author's improvisations. A passionate and personal reflection on movies and meals. Barbara Jacobs