Verdure: Vegetable Recipes from the Kitchen of the American

Verdure: Vegetable Recipes from the Kitchen of the American Academy in Rome, Rome Sustainable Food Project

Until 2007, a fellowship at the American Academy in Romeâ€”arguably, the most prestigious prize awarded to archaeologists, painters, architects, scholars, and artistsâ€”had one huge drawback: the food. The dining room, ideally a place for Fellows to gather and for disciplines to â€œcross-pollinate,â€ was catered by an outside company whose dreadful food was to be avoided at all costs. But when AAR President Chatfield-Taylor asked Alice Waters to help, Waters famously responded, â€œThat depends. What do you want, better foodâ€”or a revolution?â€ Fatefully and without hesitation, Chatfield-Taylor replied, â€œA revolution.â€ And a revolution was ignited.
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A year later later, the ideals (local, seasonal, organic, sustainable) were implemented and the kitchen was up and running, with Chez Panisse alums Mona Talbott and Christopher Boswell as chefs. In a matter of days, not only were the Fellows filling the tables at lunch and dinner, they were gathered â€˜round the blackboard at 11am, anxiously waiting for the daily menus to be posted. The press wasnâ€™t far behind:
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â€œIn a town where residents talk a lot about food, the new food at the academy quickly became the talk of Rome, and a dinner invitation became a coveted commodity.â€â€”The New York Times
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Seven years later, Verdure is the RSFPâ€™s fourth cookbook (following Biscotti, Zuppe, Pasta).Â It is perhaps the ideal collaboration among the kitchen and the Academy garden, the artisan producers, and the organic farmers who provide the impeccable raw ingredients used in each dish. (Some are even foraged by the academyâ€™s fellows in field trips to local meadows and forests.) Its 92 recipes are arranged seasonally; week by week, it can be used to navigate the harvest of the farmerâ€™s market. Frugality is a consideration: the RSFP kitchen feeds a group, and cost is a consideration (beans, grains, and greens take a starring role). Maximizing flavor is paramount (consider the lowly onion, risen to new heights in a sweet and sour sauce). Every recipe appears simple and is easy to execute, but rises far, far above the fundamental.Â
Country USA
Brand New York Review Books
Manufacturer Little Bookroom
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber colour illustrations, frontispiece
Color Tan
ReleaseDate 2014-03-25
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781936941032

Country	USA
Brand	New York Review Books
Manufacturer	Little Bookroom
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	colour illustrations, frontispiece
Color	Tan
ReleaseDate	2014-03-25
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781936941032

Verdure: Vegetable Recipes from the Kitchen of the American Academy in Rome, Rome Sustainable Food Project

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