Amarcord

Starred review from September 1, 2008
In 1969 Hazan gave the private cooking class that launched her career as the Italian Julia Child. In an evocative memoir, she recounts her life from childhood to Florida Gulf Coast retirement. Hazan spent her earliest years on another coast, in Cesenatico, a village on the Adriatic; during WWII the family moved to a lake in the mountains between Venice and Milan. Fresh out of the university, she taught college math and science and met a young man who had returned to his Italian homeland after more than a decade in America. He loved food, and his worldliness and sophistication made a good match for the comparatively earthbound author. After they married, the couple moved several times between various places in Italy and America. During a long stay in New York, Hazan began to offer the Italian cooking lessons that later caught the attention of such chefs as New York Times
food writer Craig Claiborne. This led to the writing and publication in 1973 of The Classic Italian Cookbook
. Hazan's memoir is a terrific history of the expansive, postwar period when Americans were still learning the difference between linguine and Lambrusco, and an engaging chronicle of professional perseverance, chance and culinary destiny. Photos.

Starred review from December 15, 2008
Author of six books, including "The Classic Italian Cookbook", Hazan has written a memoir giving us a sweet sense of life in northern Italy. Her talent for descriptive writing, coupled with her experiences, makes this an especially charming account. Although one gets the impression that working with Hazan would be more a lesson in precise kitchen practices (think Martha Stewart) than learning creative cooking, there's no question that the woman is a marvel in the kitchen. We share pleasant memories of a childhood spent in a small Italian village, where a resourceful community makes even the hardships of World War II bearable. We get culinary descriptions, methods, and recipes from her family, which became the standards for her successes as instructor and author. There's more in these pages than just recipes and tips for good Italian cookingthe pleasure of experiencing life in different cultures and insight into a captivating and powerful figure in the culinary world. Highly recommended for public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 6/1/08.]Elizabeth Rogers, CEF Lib. Syst., Plattsburgh, NY

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