Taste: My Life Through Food

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A delicious story of appetite, family and pasta. A serious amount of pasta. In this gloriously written memoir, the ever tasteful Stanley Tucci invites us to his table and feeds us all the good stuff." –Jay Rayner Ankle deep into the first chapter, you may feel tempted to stop reading. Tucci is fastidious by nature, which can come off as snobbish, rather than discerning. I encourage you to press on. In chapter two, he shares childhood stories of his large Italian family - gardens and gift exchange battles and homemade sauce and wine making - that will be your rich reward for keeping the faith.

Incredibly vague name of red sauce or even, Gravy”. Do not call sauce, gravy. Gravy is completely different and what Brits use over our Sunday roast Dinners. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed watching Stanley Tucci act in movies and in television programs, so I was happy when he published his memoir! Since a very young age as a boy growing up in a large and extended Italian family in upstate New York, Stanley was interested in food and its preparation. I was sorry to learn that he had oral cancer — suffered, lost his taste for awhile-but was equally happy to learn he is now cancer-free…. Rome is another destination and Tucci explains what a true Carbonara is, its history and where to find “the best carbonara in a city of Carbonaras.” (chapter 8). We must eat pasta recipes that are approved by Italians!We travel to Italy when the Lira was still used and his family lived there for a short time before returning to the USA for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I speed my audiobooks up so it only took me about 4 hours of listening and I couldn’t listen fast enough and had it on at every opportunity (walking, cooking, shower, dishes, washing).Her cooking, like that of any great cook or chef, is proof culinary creativity may be the most perfect art form. It allows for free personal expression like painting, musical composition, or writing and yet fulfills a most practical need: the need to eat. Edible art. What could be better?" Before Stanley Tucci became a household name with The Devil Wears Prada, The Hunger Games, and the perfect Negroni, he grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the table. He shared the magic of those meals with us in The Tucci Cookbook and The Tucci Table, and now he takes us beyond the recipes and into the stories behind them. I took a deep breath, poured an enormous glass of cold white wine, and basically 'acted.' Yes, dear reader, as you have seen me do for close to forty years now...I simply pretended that I had been making pizzocheri since birth...I served up the best pizzocheri I have ever made and probably will ever make." Guess what, he waited six months! I know. I'm calling him out here only to prevent someone else from doing the same. A good reader friend pointed out that this was probably anxiety, and not just a guy avoiding the prognosis. He’s right of course, and I mistook it for machismo, which was totally incorrect. Also absent from “Taste” is a section of photo color plates that seems to be the usual stylistic formula for celebrity memoirs. Although this isn’t a hugely tragic departure; it would have been nice.

He has travelled through many countries, and it was interesting to hear about his encounters with numerous famous and not so famous chefs and restauranteurs, as well as his descriptions of the locales. He also provides an insiders view of the behind the scenes workings of movie sets and the actors, actresses, producers and directors he has worked with over his long career. Stanley Tucci is on my dinner party list. You know the one. When someone asks "If you could have dinner with anyone alive, who would it be?" My first answer is Stanley Tucci. But because my life is about food, I think of a whole dinner party, not just dinner. Stanley loves good food, particularly Italian food, since his grandparents on both sides hail from the Calabria region of Italy. (watch his show, a tour through Italy, currently on HBO Max.)

Before Stanley Tucci became a household name with The Devil Wears Prada, The Hunger Games, and his legendary Negronis, he grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around he table. In Searching For Italy, he revealed his passion for the secrets and delights of the country's many cuisines. Now, he shares the magic of a lifetime of meals, and the stories behind them. He shares memories of some of the best (and worst) meals he’s ever had, memories of discovering new restaurants while filming or traveling or vacationing. He also discusses the shared love of food with both his late first wife and his current wife and their children, and one of his greatest fears when battling his own cancer diagnosis. (Plus, recipes. I’m in heaven.) It was ‘mostly’ enjoyable listening to Tucci share family stories, his mother’s amazing cooking, “memory meals”, recipes, his Italian culture and heritage, his growing up in New York, celebrity anecdotes, and his stark funny-bone personality. Stanley Tucci grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the kitchen table. He shared the magic of those meals with us in The Tucci Cookbook and The Tucci Table, and now he takes us beyond the savory recipes and into the compelling stories behind them.​ My name is Larry and I love food. I mean, seriously. I love to read about it, I love to cook it, and I seriously love to eat it. Most of the memoirs I’ve read have been written by chefs or have been about people’s love of food, so when I saw Stanley Tucci (one of my favorite actors) had written this book, I jumped on it like I would a buffet. (Hey, #fatboysgottafat.)