The Opera Lover's Cookbook: Menus for Elegant Entertaining

Great music and great food make an exhilarating duet. Taking her cues from the world’s most beloved operas, food diva Francine Segan has composed a cycle of menus that are sure to have your family and friends shouting, “Brava! Bravissima!”

Each chapter of Opera Lover’s Cookbook presents a culinary performance—an elegant five-course dinner, a brunch, a dessert party— scored to a particular operatic motif or keyed to the work of a renowned composer. Operas set in Spain—Carmen, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Don Giovanni—are the exotic backdrop for a tapas fiesta. The far-flung locales of Puccini’s La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, and Turandot inspire an eclectic international buffet. A rustic Italian dinner is orchestrated to the strains of Verdi’s Traviata. And Gilbert and Sullivan, of course, provide the overture for an English-style pub supper.

Sumptuously illustrated with photographs of featured dishes and lavish productions mounted by New York’s Metropolitan Opera Company, Opera Lover’s Cookbook also dispenses advice on home entertaining and on setting the scene with stunning table decor. Its more than 125 recipes include appetizers and hors d’oeuvres; soup, salad, fish, and pasta courses; main dishes; sweets; and thematic aperitif, cocktail, and after-dinner drinks.

FRANCINE SEGAN is a noted culinary historian and food writer who has appeared on hundreds of national TV shows; the Food Network, Discovery, and History Channels; and NPR. She is the author of The Philosopher’s Kitchen and Shakespeare’s Kitchen. Segan lives in New York City.

MARK THOMAS is a photographer in New York City specializing in food, lifestyle, and travel photography. His work has appeared in STC’s Endangered Recipes, and he recently completed four books for Williams-Sonoma. Thomas’s work also appears regularly in Bon Appétit.