He’s a beloved actor for me and I find him curious and intriguing as a person. I also like reading about food 😂 This superb book... Taste enriches the reader and establishes Tucci as one of the wisest and most generous personalities of our time." — Roger Lewis, Daily Mail Not sure why I was turned off at the part where his father moved his family to Italy so that the father could study art. Apparently his Italian American family was better off than mine as my parents didn’t see Italy until mid 70’s and they certainly never lived there!

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.

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He talks about all of it and includes recipes, good ones. My galley didn't include photos, but I would bet the published version will, and I can't wait. The Super Easy Air Fryer Cookbook offers the easiest recipes to indulge in healthier fried favorites any day of the week. Filled with anecdotes about growing up, shooting foodie films like Julie & Julia, falling in love across the table, and making dinner for his family, Taste is a reflection on the joys of food and life itself. Through five-star meals and burnt dishes, and from the good times to the bad, each morsel of this gastronomic journey is as heartfelt and delicious as the last. He's sexy, sensitive, and he can cook, well! He has a tiny bit of machismo, I'll explain later, but it doesn't really surface often. Most remember him from, 'The Devil wears Prada,' and 'Julie and Julia' both with Meryl Streep. My favorite is, 'Big Night' which is a great segue to Taste.

I am hardly saying anything new by stating that our links to what we eat have practically disappeared beneath sheets of plastic wrap. But what are also disappearing are the wonderful, vital human connections we’re able to make when we buy something we love to eat from someone who loves to sell it, who bought it from someone who loves to grow, catch, or raise it. Whether we know it or not, great comfort is found in these relationships, and they are very much a part of what solidifies a community.” of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars Taste: My Life through Food by Stanley Tucci It’s obviously a sign of a good food book when all you do is salivate over various gustatory descriptions.

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Taste is a reflection on the intersection of food and life, filled with anecdotes about growing up in Westchester, New York, preparing for and filming the foodie films Big Night and Julie & Julia, falling in love over dinner, and teaming up with his wife to create conversation-starting meals for their children. Each morsel of this gastronomic journey through good times and bad, five-star meals and burnt dishes, is as heartfelt and delicious as the last.

Taste” begins in a charming way setting the table (pun intended and achieved – haha, Tucci!) for a delightful read. Tucci jumps into his past as a child and hashes tales of his family and thus ultimately reveals how he became the man that he is today. In fact, he had such a lovely upbringing (I’m sure there are skeletons in the closet but “Taste” was simply not the time or place to reveal them); that readers with traumatic lives (such as myself) might be slightly triggered and envious. That being said; this simply means that Tucci is a wonderful storyteller and is able to bring a narrative visually to life. At this point, “Taste” is very emotive to the reader.

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I don’t know why, but I have always been drawn to northern climes much more so than to warmer parts of the world. I find the redundant sunshine of Southern California mind numbing, the humidity of the American South loathsome, and the tropics make me want to curl up into a ball and die before I drown in my own sweat.” Delving into memories of his childhood and revisiting cherished times with friends and family in his own words, Stanley explores how food has often been a meaningful centre-point of these interactions. Alongside the likes of anecdotes about Meryl Streep and tales of his courtship of his wife, Felicity Blunt, he includes a number of unmissable recipes, from the Negroni that became an internet sensation, to his family’s cherished tomato sauce. The resulting book is a reminder of how food is so often a portal to our past, a connection to our loved ones, and almost always present at life’s most precious moments. No, for some unknown reason, I feel more at home in the Italian Alps than I do in the brutal heat of Puglia. I like brisk autumns, snowy winters, rainy springs, and temperate summers. The change of seasons allows for a change in one’s wardrobe (I’m sartorially obsessed) and, most important, one’s diet. A boeuf carbonnade tastes a thousand times better in the last days of autumn than when it’s eighty degrees and the sun is shining. An Armagnac is the perfect complement to a snowy night by the fire but not to an August beach outing, just as a crisp Orvieto served with spaghetti con vongole is ideal “al fresco” on a sunny summer afternoon but not nearly as satisfying when eaten indoors on a cold winter’s night. One thing feeds the other. (Pun intended.) So a visit to Iceland to escape the gloom of what is known in London as “winter” was an exciting prospect. However, my greatest concern, as you can probably guess, if you’re still reading this, was the food.” Tomato Salad — SERVES 4 — 8 small ripe tomatoes (quartered or halved, depending upon their size) 1 garlic clove, halved A glug of EVOO A small handful of basil leaves, torn A splash of red wine vinegar (optional) Coarse salt Place the cut tomatoes in a bowl with the garlic, olive oil, basil, and vinegar, if using. Toss. Salt a few minutes before serving. (Adding it too soon will draw the water out of the tomatoes and dilute the dish.)” Now, I am not one who is necessarily drawn to the Michelin star. Often I find that many of the restaurants that have earned this coveted award are a bit fussy, to say the least, and I’ve left a few of them completely famished, as I have never found pretentiousness very filling.”