ISO Cookbooks/Cooking Magazines that Highlight Cucina Povera/Cuisine Misere

[thecuriousone]

Hello-

I am interested in the idea of cucina povera or cuisine misere. I keep reading about residents of France and Italy who respond when asked about eating food in the us. immediately speak of how the food at home is more, "straightforward and unadorned".

I was flipping through the italian cookbook, :LaCucina and it seemed to speak to this in its recipes, but I wondered if there were the equivalent of, "church fund-raiser/social organization cookbooks" published in Europe? I am assuming that I would find them at flea markets. At one time I had an old copy of Tante Marie's cookbook but didn't see a lot of differences between it and what some more current French cookbooks offer.

I have a copy of Jacques Pepin's, "Cuisine Economique" and even though I have had it for years, I find myself coming back to it again and again i am always amazed at how lean the recipes are and how good the food tastes. I have started looking for the european equivalent of "war cookbooks" published during or just after WW2 Can anyone suggest other cookbooks I might want to look at?

.

thanks

[SylviaLovegren]

Don't know about local books but Patience Gray's classic "Honey From A Weed" is a wonderful wonderful book on this topic. Amazon has it but it is generally available. Amazon link

[Panaderia Canadiense]

For Canada and Great Britain, what you're looking for is The Purity Cookbook. That's one that will have to be sourced via ebay, since what you want is not the "modern" version but the actual wartime recipes. I have one from 1936, which was my grandmother's, and which contains the sort of down-home dishes you're looking for. Well, for Canada and Great Britain at least....

This one here is kind of what I'm talking about. It's far less abused than my copy, though!

[LindaK]

M.F.K. Fisher's How to Cook a Wolf. Published in 1942, reflecting the latter years of the Depression in the U.S. and the food rationing that accompanied the second World War. As is always true with her books, the recipes often take a back seat to the stories of how to live life well through food, even in difficult times. Highly recommended.

[Snadra]

Elisabeth Luard's European Peasant Cookery would fit this bill quite handily, although its not a historic document itself.

http://elisabethluard.com/page6.htm

I haven't cooked from it extensively, but it really is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in everyday traditional foods. Even without any pictures or illustrations, I can quite happily spend a while flipping through it without any intention of cooking from it - her writing is that good.

Lillian Beckwith's Hebridean cookbook, published in 1976, reflects the foods of her childhood and the time she spent in the Hebrides - a place where a child could not get bi-carb soda on a Saturday afternoon because the seller thought the child mother might use it to bake with on the sabbath.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Beckwith

Darra Goldstein's Georgian Feast or Russian cookbooks and Madame Benoit's cookbooks also come to mind.

[patrickamory]

Don't know about local books but Patience Gray's classic "Honey From A Weed" is a wonderful wonderful book on this topic. Amazon has it but it is generally available. Amazon link

I'll second this. One of my favorite books on food - one of my favorite books, period.

[ambra]

Pamela Sheldon Johns wrote a cookbook on Tuscan peasant food called, "Cucina Povera" that might interest you.

You might find a lot of recipe compilations online too. I know my father's town in Italy lists many classic recipes on their city website. And I can't think of any off the top of my head, but there are many blogs that are based around "Nonna's" cooking. (nonna means grandmother in Italian.) I'm sure that could help if Nonna was cooking on tight budget!

[Jon Tseng]

Not a period piece, but "Economy Gastronomy" is one that's probably suited to the current era of austerity. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Economy-Gastronomy-Better-Spend-Less/dp/0718155726

For a retro-period piece there's currently a series running on the BBC here called "Wartime Farm" about how people made do in Britain during the war (http://www.wartimefarm.co.uk/). Again more kitsch than authentic, but lots of recipes to do with how people simply "made do"... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wartime-Farm-Rediscovering-Skills-Spirit/dp/1845337085/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348161704&sr=1-1

Hope that's useful!

J

[patrickamory]

Also, if we're just talking about cheap food rather than cucina povera, maybe we're getting away from the original topic, but I like and recommend Miriam Unger's Good Cheap Food.

[Lisa Shock]

I have been meaning to get a copy of How to Cook a Wolf by M.K. Fisher. I only hesitate to really recommend it because I have not read it.

[SylviaLovegren]

I have been meaning to get a copy of How to Cook a Wolf by M.K. Fisher. I only hesitate to really recommend it because I have not read it.

It's a wonderful book but I'm not sure it really qualifies as something I'd cook from in hard times. More inspirational.

[thecuriousone]

Hello everybody-

 

Can anyone suggest cookbooks or monthly cooking magazines  from france or Italy that typify cucina povera?  It seems that most of the European cooking  magazines exported to the us  just seem so lush.   Cuisine et Vin de France and Sale e Pepe just seems so... abundant.   I have looked at "Una cucina in mese". I am sure they are out there, Im just not sure where to start finding them.  

 

I suspect that they are out there and are were published in the 10 years after ww2.  Can anyone suggest cookbooks that typify what Im looking for or monthly magazines that  are currently published but speak to the regular home cook in either france or italy?  Thanks so much for any assistance or suggestions you can offer.

[Anna N]

Hello everybody-

 

Can anyone suggest cookbooks or monthly cooking magazines  from france or Italy that typify cucina povera?  It seems that most of the European cooking  magazines exported to the us  just seem so lush.   Cuisine et Vin de France and Sale e Pepe just seems so... abundant.   I have looked at "Una cucina in mese". I am sure they are out there, Im just not sure where to start finding them.  

 

I suspect that they are out there and are were published in the 10 years after ww2.  Can anyone suggest cookbooks that typify what Im looking for or monthly magazines that  are currently published but speak to the regular home cook in either france or italy?  Thanks so much for any assistance or suggestions you can offer.

I think La Cucina Italiana might well have met your needs but the English version, I believe, stopped publishing in early 2014.

[Maedl]

Marlena de Blasi has written several cookbooks highlighting the cooking of both northern and southern Italy in addition to her novels and memoirs. She delights in everything close to the land and everyday people, which may be exactly what you are looking for. Her writing is lush, and after reading a few lines, you crave an invitation to her table. My only warning about her recipe is that they are a bit heavy on salt, so you may want to reduce the amounts she recommends.

[djyee100]

Have you looked at Pamela Sheldon Johns' Cucina Povera?
https://books.google.com/books?id=RWSOVYWK2WoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=pamela+sheldon+johns+cucina+povera&hl=en&sa=X&ei=O1neVOuQDYquogSe7oG4BA&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=pamela%20sheldon%20johns%20cucina%20povera&f=false

 

Also, Papa Andrea's Sicilian Table: Recipes and Remembrances of My Grandfather by Vincent Schiavelli contains a section on cucina povera. The rest of the book is not so povera.
https://books.google.com/books?id=Zt24M3F5PH0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Vincent+Schiavelli&hl=en&sa=X&ei=c1neVL2MNdaxogTP84HQAg&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Vincent%20Schiavelli&f=false

 

I own both books, though I have not yet cooked from the Johns book. I have cooked out of the Schiavelli book with good results.

 

It's true that cucina povera originated from times of scarcity (both manmade and natural), but now Italy enjoys abundant agriculture, and recipes from current magazines will reflect that. I don't know how much you want to delve into this subject. I did a search for "cucina povera" in the U.S. Library of Congress. As you will see, some of the results are books in Italian. I suggest you also check public library and academic sources that may be available to you. good luck.
http://www.loc.gov/search/?q=cucina+povera&all=true&st=list

[SylviaLovegren]

It's old but Patience Gray's Honey From a Weed is a wonderful book, with recipes, interesting anecdotes, and some history, all mixed up into a beautiful melange. 

[patrickamory]

+1 on Patience Gray, Honey From a Weed. One of my favorite books (not just cookbooks).

[thecuriousone]

thanks to all.   I guess I am harkening to a back to a day when there were distinct differences.   Where I shop, they stock several cooking mags from different countries.   I can pick up monthly editions in Spanish, Italian, polish and English.   Last year when I was in turkey, I picked up a few of theirs.

 

The languages are different, but there is a sameness about them that kind of makes me sad.  I have thoroughly devoured, "the making of a cook" 2nd edition and I continue to be inspired by Jacque Pepin's "Cuisine economique" as a book that takes castoffs and makes meals.  Its getting harder to find cookbooks that do this and I guess I've developed as a cook to the point where I want to explore the, "less is more" concept.

 

I think that the recession has played a part in this also.  I've worked with less than perfect ingredients and I've developed a pragmatic sense that might not have occurred if it had not been for the enforced budgetary constraints of 2008-2013,  while the recession cant be compared to post ww2, there is something about those books that speaks to me now.

 

thanks again to all.

[Maedl]

When you said cucina povera, I assumed you were looking specifically for Italian food. Here is a good read in that vein: http://italianfood.about.com/od/favoriterecipes/tp/Italian-Peasant-Foods-Cucina-Povera.htm

I don't think you will find magazines that are devoted to this kind of food. You will have more luck with books that explore traditional foods, and you already have some recommendations that you can begin with.

Another source is people! If you live in a community with refugees or immigrants, try asking them about food. Many would be delighted to talk about their traditional foodways.--and maybe you could even organize some cooking sessions, perhaps using a church kitchen. Early last summer, I participated in a cooking session with women from Afghanistan and Syria. We made stuffed grape leaves from grapes vines growing in our town and eggplant salad, and ended up with elderflower fritters, also fresh from local bushes. Then you have a chance to share a meal and learn even more.

And do you know any foragers or have any foraging clubs in your region? Gathering wild food--free!--and learning how to make it not only edible but delicious--is a fine introduction to simple food.

One more suggestion: Slow Food has an Ark of Taste in which it lists traditional, artisanally-produced food. This food is usually pricey today, but most of these foods come from humble roots.