Ciao a tutti! I am so excited to share this episode with you all. Recorded and compiled while on my recent travels in Italy, please have a listen as we spend the day together in Florence with Tuscan-based author, photographer and cook Emiko Davies (also – please excuse any dodgy editing, I’m still learning!). Emiko met me at the Sant’Ambrogio markets with her husband and daughter and we wandered around picking up good things for lunch, me juggling my camera and mini-microphone, not sure where to look or what to record in the excitement of it all!
Then we headed back to their home in the Settignano hills above Florence where I recorded the rest of this episode. For loads of pics and links of and to the recipes Emiko and Marko served forth at our lunch, please visit my blog, Local is Lovely. And for all the links to the books and people Emiko recommends in this podcast, please see below!
- Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (1891). I talk a bit about its significance everywhere, here’s an old blog post of mine explaining why I love his book so much.
- Roman cookbook writer Ada Boni’s Talismano della Felicita’ (1929), known just as “The Talisman” in English. I recently wrote a piece about her book for Food52.
- Gillian Riley’s Oxford Companion to Italian Food (2007)
- Elizabeth David’s Italian Food (1954)
- And the one I forgot to show you but who lived near our place is Janet Ross‘ Leaves from Our Tuscan Kitchen (1899 but reprinted and updated by her grandson in 1987 and now out of print but you can find the whole thing online, like here). She is a really interesting character and there are a couple of biographies written about her!Another wonderful one is Honey from a Weed (1986) by Patience Gray. I love these kind of historical books about traditional Italian cuisine that give a sense of place and purpose, written by people who spent a lot of time here in Italy. This is an obituary that talks a bit about the book too, so many wonderful parts in it!
- And finally The Italian Baker (1985) by Carol Field. My go-to for anything baked, breads, cakes and special occasion treats/big weekend-long projects like panettone and colomba (the kind of things I like to cook that take time!). I wrote an obituary-type piece about her for Food52 recently.
And onto instagram!
- Little Upside Down Cake – Sanda’s photographs always have me staring for ages or wanting to hop on a plane to Portugal! Luckily she’s coming to Florence later this year!
- Renee Kemps – Renee is between London and Amsterdam and takes beautiful photographs that whisk you away to islands, New York, etc — best kind of armchair travel!.
- Marina Denisova – Young Russian photographer based in Florence, I love her minimal, super clean style, something I cannot do myself but can appreciate.
- Kerrie Ahern – British/Irish/Chinese in Montreal
- Masseria Potenti – The place I’m dreaming of going to for my next holiday — and future workshop destination this Autumn!
- The Hungry Chook – Vanessa is from Sydney but spends a lot of time in Italy and traveling in between, she’s currently in Vietnam and every one of her photographs tells a story and just makes you want to leap in.
- Cliodhna Prendergast – She writes for the Irish Sunday Times about cookbooks, so I love seeing the cookbook recipes she’s trying out and also little snippets of beautiful Irish scenery.
- Kate Amelia Tweedie – Kate is a friend from Canberra and her photos are just like she is: quiet, lovely and reflective.
- Caroline Choi – Caroline is a textile designer in Tasmania whose images I love because she, naturally, has such an eye for pattern and colour that I find so inspiring — its refreshing because inspiration for composition and colour can and should come from everywhere, not just other food photographers but also other entirely different creatives too!)
Thank you so much Emiko for such a lovely day – your hospitality and generosity was just next level! Thank you also to the Good Lovelies, a Canadian folky group behind the song featured in this episode; Kingston. I LOVE these guys and recommend you seek them out, snap up some of their tunes and have a listen whenever you want to feel nice and happy. Check out the super cute video they made for this song.
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