When Italian cookbooks end up in Italy

by Nicole Weston, Posted Aug 20th 2006 @ 3:03PM

Getting a book translated into a new language, whether it is the second or tenth, and published in other countries is a very big deal to most authors because it means that their writing is good enough to cross cultural boundaries and appeal to people in other parts of the world. When that book is a cookbook, you would naturally assume that the same thing applies and that the people in the other country are interested in making those recipes.

Jamie Oliver's cookbook, Jamie's Italy, is due for publication in Italy this year, but some feel that the release of an Italian book written by a non-Italian is doomed to failure. Critics say "Italians don't really learn from books: they learn from their mothers, their grandmothers and their aunties" and "[Italians] think their food is the greatest and they are not going to accept an English guy trying show them how to cook Italian food."

But the market is changing and while the older generations do not necessarily want or need to add cookbooks to their library to increase their repertoire, younger ones do. Jamie Oliver is only 31 and there are thousands of younger people, in Italy and other countries, who are interested in getting a new take on food - even if it is "their" food to begin with. Supporters - and the Italian publishers who bought the distribution rights to the book - clearly think that Oliver's enthusiasm and recipes will carry over well in the new market.

Source

Filed Under: Books
Tags: book, british, british isles, cookbook, cooking, europe, food, italian, italy, jamie oliver, jamie's italy, oliver, pasta, tradition