72 Comments

Just want to chime in and say how much I love this book. I was lucky enough to get a preview copy to provide a quote for the back cover. Much has been written about la cucina povera, but it feels fresh in Giulia's capable hands. So glad you are highlighting it here, Susan!

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Apr 14, 2023Liked by Susan Spungen

This is the way I cook--go to the market (or whatever place I can find; here in Northern VT it’s often a hide lodge of the local grocery store/gas station and knowing where the local purveyors are. On my run just now I passed several places where the happy chickens are the source of my egg supply) and see what looks good. I like to shop while I’m hungry because I find I’m more creative and inspired in that state.

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Apr 14, 2023Liked by Susan Spungen

My very Italian grandma died last year and my cousins and I have been making Italian recipes in an effort to get closer to her. A confirmed authentic and well-reviewed Italian cookbook would be a great addition to our Sunday afternoons!

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Apr 15, 2023Liked by Susan Spungen

Well because this book sounds delightfully amazing and would be a great book to use with my clients as I teach them to unlearn diet culture and learn to heal their relationship with food.

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Apr 14, 2023Liked by Susan Spungen

Need this book!! It already reminds

Me Of when I studied abroad in Firenze 26 years ago and travelled around Tuscany trying to take cooking classes! Coveted, hard to find, perfect and easy recipes.

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Apr 14, 2023Liked by Susan Spungen

I have followed Giulia on-line since the beginning. Have always looked forward to her recipes and commentaries. Because of a medical condition, I’m looking for a simpler meal strategy and Giulua’s new book will certainly help me stay healthy. A complementary copy would really be appreciated.

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Apr 14, 2023Liked by Susan Spungen

This book sounds like heaven! Cabbage and cheese? Cheese and potato? I do need this in my life. I do need this in my life!❤️

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Apr 14, 2023Liked by Susan Spungen

I am devoted to cooking in the spirit of cucina povera! I just know this cookbook will be right up my alley and earn quite a few splatters on the kitchen counter.

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During the pandemic I learned to can and made my own tomato sauce, dilly beans, pickles and jam! My husband (first generation Italian who also lived in Florence for a while) learned how to make beautiful ravioli. We waste nothing when we cook. For example: Leftover pot roast becomes tacos one day, meat sauce the next. We are lucky to have a large vegetable garden (asparagus, wild garlic and rhubarb are our perennials) and receiving this cookbook will take our leftovers to the next level!. On Instagram as: redhouseproject

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Apr 14, 2023Liked by Susan Spungen

I would love to win this cookbook because, after 24 years of marriage and 30 years as an accomplished home cook, I have promised my husband that I will stop buying cookbooks. Winning a cookbook is a loophole that he hasn't thought of yet. ;) In all seriousness, I am part of a monthly cookbook club and we are always on the lookout for new cookbooks to try! Win or lose, I'm going to pitch the group on making this our June selection.

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Apr 14, 2023Liked by Susan Spungen

any cookbook that shows how to use pea pods to make a stock is MY FAVORITE! I just planted a lot of shelling peas in my garden and I'd love to learn more from this book!

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Apr 14, 2023Liked by Susan Spungen

My husband and I are coming up on our 2 year anniversary May 30th, and because of COVID postponements our wedding and honeymoon each got pushed, so for our one year anniversary we finally took a honeymoon to Tuscany. We loved every minute, but to top it off, I found out that I was pregnant while we were there. Now we have our baby boy and can’t wait to introduce him to the flavors of such a special place to us and his story! We’d love to cook from this book!

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Apr 17, 2023Liked by Susan Spungen

I haven't thought about Risi e Bisi for such a long time....simple, delicious, "cucina povera"! The more I've cooked, the more I like returning to the simpler, authentic dishes in each culture, but especially Italian. I can't wait to explore this book!

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Apr 17, 2023Liked by Susan Spungen

This book looks absolutely amazing! Thanks for featuring on Susanality. Can’t wait to make the risi e bisi! Also checked out Giulia’s cooking lesson’s in Tuscany- time to return to Italy!

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Apr 16, 2023Liked by Susan Spungen

I want (and need) this book because my nieces attend a bilingual Italian school in San Francisco, and they are asking me to teach them how to cook homemade Italian food (via Zoom from Boston). This would be such a fun book for us all to have and to spend Sundays cooking together! I’m also super excited for a cooking class with Giulia next weekend via Milk Street! Thank you!

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Apr 16, 2023Liked by Susan Spungen

Susan, you had me at “making do with what you’ve got.” I was taught that metaphorical life lesson at an early age at the hip of my idolized Italian great-grandmother, Mrs. Christmas (Elizabeth Natale), watching in wonderment in her small kitchen with seemingly minimal resources as she created simple yet sumptuous dish after dish from savory to sweet for all our large extended family gatherings. The Proustian memories have not faded much with the decades, and now that I am retired with some time on my hands and in a similar mentorship role as a grandfather of three young impressionable and always hungry boys, I intend to gift to them the love of food and family and the treasure trove of memories and life skills bequeathed to me by their great-great-great-grandmother. The heart and soul embodied by Cucina Povera makes it the perfect culinary guidebook we would need to complement my great-grandmother’s teachings of making do with what you’ve got, and one that my grandsons and I could regularly reference to create some beautiful and delicious moments together in the kitchen that would live on for them in their daily thoughts and deeds for the decades yet to come. Grazie mille.

Steven

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author

Hi Steven! I don't see an email from you on hello@susanspungen.com. If you just open the original email I sent you with this post, and hit reply, you can send me your address privately, and i can send you the book!

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author

Hi Steven- You won the giveaway! I hope you check for messages here, because when I search on your name your email doesn't come up. Please respond to the original email and send me your mailing address! Congratulations!

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Steven Latorre

PO Box 2202

Amherst, MA 01004

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Hi Susan. Beyond thrilled. Thanks so much. I sent my mailing address to you through your website. I hope that works. I can't wait to delve into the recipes from Cucina Povera.

Best,

Steven

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