A new e-book released by the Vetrina Toscana project preserves the region’s family recipes and family stories.
Storie di Piatti e Territori was cooked up through a contest sponsored by the Tuscan Region. Food lovers, journalists and bloggers were invited to share ‘their Tuscany,’ as told through a dish. But there was more to the participation than simply ingredients and instructions: each person was asked to provide their personal story behind the meal. The 50 best recipes (in Italian, available here) range from ribollita, the Tuscan soup made with vegetables and bread, to Berlingozzo, a traditional regional cake, each with an engaging story.
The goal of the book, says regional councillor for Tuscan tourism Stefano Ciuoffo, is twofold. One objective is to motivate ‘those who read the book to visit those places’ described in the personal anecdotes. The other, says Cuioffo, is to encourage people ‘to pay more attention not only to what they buy, territorially and seasonally, but also to the way it is prepared, to how they eat, to a ritual of the table that is disappearing. The stories in the book tell of the wealth of Tuscany not only in gastronomic terms but also of relationships and a sense of belonging.
