Giulia Scarpaleggia's Cucina Povera is a worthy extension of her popular website (which itself promotes her Tuscan cooking school). I tried several of the recipes in an attempt to give an honest review. The best of these was a buckwheat pasta with cabbage and fontina that was easy to adapt to gluten-free and delicious. That said, most of the recipes included are mainland Italian classics and they all taste more or less like you'd expect them to. Scarpaleggia offers good, clear instructions and even a beginning cook will be able to manage most of what she offers (though it will sometimes be time-consuming. My one complaint is that very little of this would be considered cuisine of the poor now. There are endless expensive cheeses required. Pricey meats that are no longer considered off-cuts. This was, for me, quite an expensive cookbook in terms of ingredient purchasing. One cabbage does not compensate for the cost of buckwheat flour and a giant hunk of fontina, for instance. I think this book will be popular, but I think a better content editor might have helped Scarpaleggia better refine her recipes for translation to an American audience and our ingredient availability.

So many yummy recipes. So glad to see that many of them are not complex and don’t have you using a crazy amount of unheard of ingredients .

Unable to open this file on any of my devices, iphone, ipad or laptop. Would love to look at the recipes for a favorable review and possible purchase.