Each year Italy's beautiful countryside is spattered with numerous food festivals that showcase various delectable foods such as garlic, pasta, lentils, fruits, nuts, chocolates and more. Now Italian Food Festivals highlights 50 of Italy's most diverse food fairs, bringing a taste of authentic Italy into your home with 100 recipes that use the featured festival foods. Part cookbook and part travelogue, Italian Food Festivals is filled with spectacular photographs and centuries-old recipes that bring the Italian countryside, its people and their cuisine to life for readers. Rather than visiting famous restaurants and local bistros, award-winning authors James O. Fraioli and Leonardo Curti take both professional chefs and home cooks on a culinary odyssey of a different sort, transporting both food lovers and travel aficionados to the stall-lined village streets of these local festivals, filling their imaginations with the tempting aromas, the warmth of the Italian sun, the spectacular settings and easy camaraderie of the friendliest hosts in the world. Take home this carefully culled collection of the best of each festival's mouth-watering recipes with Italian Food Festivals. James O. Fraioli is a published, award-winning author, and an internationally recognized travel writer.
He is the author of numerous books on a wide range of subjects. His celebrated cookbook: Ocean Friendly Cuisine: Sustainable Seafood Recipes from the World's Finest Chefs has appeared in The New York Times, been presented at the White House, and featured on the Food Network's The Essence of Emeril. He is also a contributing writer and professional photographer for 18 magazines. Prior to his fulltime writing career, Fraioli spent eight years in the motion-picture and television industry for FOX, Walt Disney and Warner Bros. Chef Leonardo Curti is the executive chef and co- proprietor at the acclaimed Trattoria Grappolo bistro in Santa Ynez, California. Born in Calabria, Italy, Leonardo learned his culinary skills in Tuscany before relocating to Los Angeles, where he worked as a chef at Cicada Restaurant and founded Pane Caldo in Beverly Hills. Leonardo's gastronomic journey then led him to Aspen, where he joined the legendary Farfalla Restaurant. In 1997, Leonardo opened Trattoria Grappolo in Santa Ynez and hasn't looked back.
Today, the casual bistro continues to serve authentic, traditional Italian fare for lunch and dinner. Aside from the restaurant, Leonardo runs a full catering company and teaches private cooking classes. He has also launched a new line of pasta sauces.