Taste

By Stanley Tucci

Taste - Stanley Tucci
  • Release Date: 2021-10-05
  • Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 226 Ratings

Description

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Named a Notable Book of 2021 by NPR and The Washington Post

From award-winning actor and food obsessive Stanley Tucci comes an intimate and charming memoir of life in and out of the kitchen.

Stanley Tucci grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the kitchen table. He shared the magic of those meals with us in The Tucci Cookbook and The Tucci Table, and now he takes us beyond the savory recipes and into the compelling stories behind them.​

Taste is a reflection on the intersection of food and life, filled with anecdotes about his growing up in Westchester, New York; preparing for and shooting the foodie films Big Night and Julie & Julia; falling in love over dinner; and teaming up with his wife to create meals for a multitude of children. Each morsel of this gastronomic journey through good times and bad, five-star meals and burned dishes, is as heartfelt and delicious as the last.

Written with Stanley’s signature wry humor, Taste is for fans of Bill Buford, Gabrielle Hamilton, and Ruth Reichl—and anyone who knows the power of a home-cooked meal.

Reviews

  • Good but not great

    3
    By CharliePA
    Entertaining and I learned a couple things.
  • Dining Table Confidential

    3
    By Richard Bakare
    Stanley Tucci gives an entertaining memoir from the dinner table. Stanley is unapologetic and gives hilariously opinionated takes on food and culinary tastes from around the world. As a bonus we get recipes to delicacies handed down over generations of the Tucci family. Yet, the book has a disjointed flow; slow in parts and racing in others. Where it success most is in how the sounds, smells, and motions coming from our family kitchens define who we are. From the daily motions during the pandemic, to childhood memories played out against the backdrop of specific dishes, to the exacting specificity of various cultures in how a recipe must work because it was more about cultural appropriateness than gastronomic allowances. Where it doesn’t work is in the pacing and the s stream of consciousness style of the prose. Which is a contradicting observation. Because some of the free flow is where the best jokes are presented. What’s also difficult but not for style reasons, is the heartbreak and struggles Stanley Tucci has gone through medically and food ties to these experiences that will gut you. His transparency is applauded and moving. I checked out the audiobook and print versions. I recommend you experience this journey straight from Stanley Tucci’s mouth.
  • What a slug?

    1
    By Chuck Bullet
    Like walking uphill in 3 feet of snow for even just one moment of literary relief, and it never comes. Oh and then it gets political like that is going to help!
  • How do I wrangle a dinner invitation?

    5
    By SDWill
    Stanley Tucci is such an engaging artist in so many mediums. “Taste” is about so much more than recipes and techniques, though there are samples aplenty. He conveys his truths with cutting wit and genuine humility. I only wish I lived close enough to ingratiate myself sufficiently to obtain an invitation to dinner.
  • A Sensory Experience

    5
    By purist from MN
    This well written memoir was a joy to read. Thoughtful, self revelatory, and a delight to the senses.
  • As delightful and charming as the man himself!

    5
    By Cat TD
    This book truly captures the charm and delightfulness of the amazing Stanley Tucci! This memoir is filled with personal anecdotes written in a such a way that you feel Stanley Tucci is directly speaking to you. By its end, you feel honored to have been allowed into his world. You will also feel compelled to cook and eat Italian food as often as possible.
  • Delightful

    5
    By martipoo
    This book is a joy to read. He has a knack for telling a story that few authors possess.