January 24, 2019 – The VBZ publishing house has presented the most recent culinary book by the gourmet chef, writer, poet and historian, Veljko Barbieri.
Barbieri wrote his first articles a long time ago, in the legendary Polet magazine in Zagreb, and has written numerous novels, travel books, short stories since. As an author and gastro-writer, Barbieri has worked with many Croatian, Italian, German and Slovenian weeklies and magazines since the 1980s and his columns have been turned into numerous books and cooks that have seen significant success and received prestigious national and international prizes, with those from Gourmand indeed being some of the most prominent ones. Also notable are the award at the Barcelona Book Fair for the Best Food Literature (2003) and the Best Book on Mediterranean Gastronomy won in Sweden (2005). He is also a prominent TV presenter, a winner of literary awards, a journalist and even an actor. But, most of all, Barbieri is a witty, smart, joyful hedonist who in this book – as in his first cookbook of a similar format published 16 years ago – acts as a photographer as well.
For Barbieri, Veliki Kuharski Kanconijer (The Great Cooking Canzoniere) represents a kind of a crowning achievement in the field of food writing, in which he, in his trademark way, examines and promotes gastronomy through highly enjoyable articles written at a high literary level. Barbieri leads his readers and admirers of authentic dishes on a journey through stories from the culinary world, accompanied by numerous recipes.
In the book, you will meet a Mayan princess and the creator of the world together with a recipe for the Aztecs chicken, Mediterranean sand smelts from small nets, evil wizards and beet with the Russian borscht or Russian beet salad; you will taste Renaissance pastries and a modest but savoury radish, carrot and pumpkin stew. There are also potatoes from the “dark soil”, oxtail totems, the chickpea from the Cicero brothers. Also, a medieval steak and a divine rescuer – radish from old stories, glazed lamb in champagne and an egg – for the end.
The book includes the original author’s photographs, as well as examples of artwork and illustrations in which gastronomy takes centre stage because the author experiences gastronomy through art and history.
We can be sure that Veliki Kuharski Kanconijer has all the prerequisites to become another of Barbieri’s bestsellers, which will find its way to the shelves of many kitchens and homes, where it will undoubtedly have a special place.
