From Tables Tuscan Women: Recipes and Traditions
One of the most profound differences between American and European movies is the prominence of cooking and eating in the European films. The occasional American character might stop at a fast food joint for a burger (especially if that chain had paid the film studio a handsome fee for visibility on the silver screen), but in European films, there is almost always at least one scene of characters preparing, relishing, or discussing food that they or a friend had created. Although From the Tables of Tuscan Women may seem at first glance to be a wonderful cookbook filled with exquisite recipes from the Tuscany, Anne Bianchi"s newest book is also a meditation about the intimate interdependence of food and life. Perhaps from a purely materialistic perspective, "we are what we eat" but Bianchi reminds us that "we are how we cook--and how we eat."