Popes, Peasants, and Shepherds

"This superlative collaboration between author and translator has produced the very best kind of cookbook: authoritative but exciting, scholarly but racily written—everything the cook or scholar wants to know about the traditional food of the region around Rome.” —Paul Levy, editor of The Penguin Book of Food and Drink

“Oretta Zanini and Maureen Fant are the very two experts I would consult first with any question on Roman cuisine, and this product of their collaboration is as rich and complex as a classic coda alla vaccinara (their recipe for which happens to be delicious). The breadth of information presented here is impressive and the selection of recipes refreshingly authentic, including intestines, heart, sweetbreads, and other delicacies of the quinto quarto so often left out of books on Rome published outside of Italy. At a time when Tuscany and Sicily occupy so much space in our collective Italian fantasies, it’s a pleasure to have a definitive exploration of Roman cuisine to put on the shelf or bring into the kitchen.” —Mitchell Davis, The James Beard Foundation

"Zanini has written a fascinating profile of a region of Italy almost unknown to Americans--and that's strange because it's the region of the country’s best-known city, Rome. But Lazio and the Roman countryside remain a terra incognita despite their rich history and very rich culinary culture, all of which helped make Rome the center of the universe for many centuries and a place of endless enchantment to this day. Here are dishes that have traversed the ages and flavors that once beguiled Caesar just as they do modern tourists. Zanini provides astute analysis of how and why Romans and the people of Lazio eat what they do--and moreover, she gives us recipes so we can try them in our own kitchens." —Nancy Harmon Jenkins, author of The Essential Mediterranean: How Regional Cooks Transform Key Ingredients into the World’s Favorite Cuisines