The Food of Italy is an award-winning classic by one of the great food writers of our time. When the book first came out in 1989 it had a huge impact, and it has remained the most authoritative and approachable guide to one of the world’s best-loved cuisines, an inspiration to home cooks everywhere, as well as to a new generation of chefs in today’s best Italian restaurants. This new anniversary edition was an opportunity for Claudia Roden to update and add many new recipes to the book.

To research the book, Claudia Roden travelled up and down Italy through every region, taking in city and countryside to discover the local specialities on their home ground. She spent much time in both restaurant and private kitchens, watching people cook and listening to their stories.

Simple and unaffected, mouthwatering and irresistible, Italian food is a combination of country cooking, peasant food and the grand dishes that belonged to the nobility. From rustic to grand bravura the recipes Claudia has collected represent traditional Italian food as it is cooked in Italy today.

Made up of 300 recipes, Claudia’s enchanting and entertaining book is set against a fascinating backdrop of the story of Italy and its people.