Taste - Stanley Tucci

 I love Stanley Tucci. Ever since I saw him in The Devil Wears Prada he's been one of those actors whose films I look out for. I enjoy the diversity of his roles and how he brings the required amount of warmth or chill to the parts he plays. I have a good friend who agrees with me and who I can rely on to accompany me to a viewing of his films when they are showing in the cinema. So I bought her a copy of this book when it was published in hardback for her birthday hoping that she would lend it to me when she had finished. She didn't! She went and lent it to somebody else and is still waiting for its return. So I had to buy the paperback!

But sometimes I cringe inwardly when an actor, musician or other takes to the page to regale us with the story of their life. Even if it's someone whom I admire in their chosen field I've found their attempts to match their career prowess with the written word disappointing. 

But not here. Mr. Tucci's story has depth and the inspired use of food to cement it all together is entertaining and informative in spite of the fact that it caused excessive salivation on the part of this reader. (I could murder a bowl of pasta right now. )😉 What shines through is how food can unify us and cement relationships on so many levels. The meals you eat in childhood can stay with you forever. I am vegetarian now ( I will admit some of the meat based recipes and anecdotes in the book didn't thrill me overmuch) but I can still remember my mum's steak and kidney pie, the smell and the taste of that short crust pastry soaked in the gravy. So I related to the tales of the Tucci family's mealtimes. Whilst Italy features strongly in the book cuisines from other countries are there to tantalise our taste buds too especially Iceland. 

The autobiographical narrative is interspersed with some detailed and mouth watering recipes which I tell myself I will try but I haven't so far. And as Stanley is an actor one would expect there to be some A-listers popping up from time to time. But there is never the sense that this is name dropping, it's someone telling us about his friends. The meal with Meryl Streep and the andouillette is little short of hilarious. 

I found it a very honest and real book in the sense that I could almost hear this actor speaking his words while I was reading them. His passion for food underpins the whole book and key moments of his life are interspersed, his marriages, the pandemic and his overcoming cancer. 

It has been a delightful read, warm and witty without shying away from the life's harsher realities.