Giorgio's Italy

This book by restaurateur Giorgio Locatelli shows the real origins and traditions of Italian food through Italian eyes.

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Giorgio Locatelli shows the real origins and traditions of Italian food, in a tie-in book to his major new BBC series, which will rival Jamie Oliver and French Leave. Giorgio's Italy accompanies the major new TV series to be aired in Autumn 2005, and follows Giorgio Locatelli as he returns to his native Lombardy to explore and share the secrets of the region's outstanding cuisine. This little-known and often overlooked area of Italy produces some of the country's most exquisite food, from freshwater fish and great soups, to polenta, risotto and panettone. Giorgio wants to show people how real Italians really eat, how they think about food, how they produce and cook it. The cuisine of Lombardy is heavily influenced by tradition and traditional methods of rearing animals, and the emphasis of Giorgio's Italy is on good local produce. Inspired by the need to economise, the countryside's fertile resources are used to their maximum potential, without the wastage that has become so commonplace in our everyday lives.
This is also the story of how Jack, Giorgio's 17-year-old son from North London, adapts to life with his Italian grandparents, who wake him at seven in the morning wanting to know what he wants to eat that night. Under the expert guidance of Giorgio, Jack will learn to cook in the long-established tradition of his ancestors. With essays on local producers and on the villagers' festivals and celebrations and their terrific co-operative restaurant, this book is a celebration of wonderful, true Italian food.