Al Dente: The Adventures of a Gastronome in Italy

Like Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour, Black's travel memoir shows its author following his stomach from one place to another in search of tasty adventures and exceptional foods. Black--who works in England as a food purveyor and cookbook co-author with his wife, Sophie Grigson (Organic: A New Way of Eating)--journeys to Italy in search of further gastronomic enlightenment. He eats his way through its small towns and fishing villages, visiting Turin and Stromboli, Pisa and Naples, and many points in between. In Canale, for instance, Black joins truffle expert Stefano Grosso and his truffle hound, Toby, in a hunt for the elusive fungus. In Comacchio, he gazes at the impressive selection of eels--""grilled eels, smoked eels, marinated eels, fat eels, eels long and short""--that appear to be""beckoning voluptuously from their tins and jars."" In Rome, he eats zucchini flowers stuffed with breadcrumbs and anchovies, and in Sicily he encounters penne served in a creamy pistachio sauce. Unlike Bourdain, however, whose swashbuckling observations and experiences reflect his American sensibilities, Black is decidedly British. His humor oscillates between incongruous juxtaposition and dry wit. Describing Toby the truffle dog, for example, he remarks that""unlike me he had a fine tail and wagged a lot."" In another chapter he declares that the notoriously reserved British""have only fairly recently managed to get into the idea of social kissing and handshaking and saying good morning."" Black's prose also has a certain formality, a stiffness in tone, that takes some getting used to. Anglophiles may enjoy these traits, however, and others may overlook them in favor of the author's engaging culinary travelogue, and the book's inclusion of many odd and unusual recipes.