Only in Naples
Lessons in Food and Famiglia from My Italian Mother-in-Law
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
A Radio 4 Book of the Week
'See Naples and die', said Goethe. But Katherine Wilson saw Naples and started to live.
Katherine is fresh out of college when she arrives in Naples to intern at the US Consulate. There she meets handsome, studious Salvatore, and finds herself enveloped by his family - in particular by his elegant mother, Raffaella, who begins her real education: never eat the crust of a pizza first, always stand up and fight for yourself and your loved ones, and remember that mealtimes are sacred.
Immersed in Neapolitan culture, tradition and cooking, slowly and unexpectedly falling for Salvatore, and basking in Raffaella's company and guidance, Katherine discovers how to prepare meals that sing, from rich ragù to pasta al forno, with bacon, béchamel and four kinds of cheese. Through courtship, culture clashes, Sunday Mass, marriage and motherhood, Katherine slowly comes to appreciate carnale, the quintessentially Neapolitan sense of comfort and confidence in one's own skin.
Steeped in sunlight, wine and unforgettable food, Only in Naples is a love letter to a city and a family, a coming-of-age story, and a transporting account of learning to live the Italian way.
'Katherine Wilson gives us more than the fabulous food of Naples. She offers us a passport to an exotic country we would never be able to enter on our own.' Ruth Reichl, author of My Kitchen Year
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
During a college internship in 1996, Wilson fell in love with the quirky and wonderful city of Naples, Italy. Wilson, who was raised in Washington, D.C., now resides in Italy with her husband and their two children. Her warm-hearted memoir weaves snippets of her upper-middle-class upbringing into the chronicle of her life in Italy for the past 19 years. During her internship, Wilson was taken under the wing of a Neapolitan family with two children her own age, headed by an irrepressible matron. Wilson began learning the language and customs of everyday life that were not readily found in guidebooks. She slowly grasped how enjoying good food can spill over into the love of life. Wilson explains that she had been a chubby child and struggled with what Italians call "disorganized, messy eating sickness," or binge-eating disorder, while growing up. But Naples and her adopted family showed her a different way to eat and live: "Naples is an anti-binge city. In Neapolitan culture, mealtimes are sacred food is freshly prepared and consumed in compagnia." Wilson includes special recipes for savoring alongside her sweet and humorous narrative.
