I simply want to live in the place with the best food in the world. This dream led Eric Dregni to Italy, first to Milan and eventually to a small, fog-covered town to the north: Modena, the birthplace of balsamic vinegar, Ferrari, and Luciano Pavarotti. Never Trust a Thin Cook is a classic American abroad tale, brimming with adventures both expected and
unexpected, awkward social moments, and most important, very good food.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Vicolo Forni
Permesso di Soggiorno
A Page Boy in Pavarotti's Restaurant
Sleeping with Nuns
Il Cappuccino
Lord Arnold and the Knight
Terror and Courtesy at the Esselunga Supermercato
Foiling the Cheese Thieves
Mold Makes a Good Salami Great
"The Poor Meatball!"
Rats in the Canals, Peacocks in the Piazza
The Bicycle Thief
Treachery and Treason amid the Subcommittee of Vespa Paint
Norman the Conqueror
Eat Your Hat, Cowboy
A Night at the Opera
Four, Five, Sex . . .
Lessons from Guido
Arrangiati!
A Risky Subject
Casino or CasinÒ?
Commie Pigs?
Never Trust a Thin Cook
Angry Noodles
Walking over Death
Super Pig Trotter
Reggio's Blockheads and Bologna's Baloney
The Secret World of the Balsamic Vinegar Elite
Pet Pigs
Buon Natale!
Sunny Italy
The Hot Springs of Ischia
Naples at New Year's
San Geminiano and the Festival of Fog
Soccer Season
Truffles and Cotecchino
Porn and Puritans
La TivÙ
Politics, Italian Style
The Art of Eating
Eating Venus's Navel
Back to High School
La Ferrari
Touch Your Balls for Luck!
Why Would You Ever Leave?
Parli Italiano?
Acknowledgments
About the Author :
Eric Dregni is assistant professor of English at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and dean of the Italian Concordia Language Village, Lago del Bosco. He is the author of several books, including In Cod We Trust: Living the Norwegian Dream, Minnesota Marvels: Roadside Attractions in the Land of Lakes, and Midwest Marvels: Roadside Attractions across Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Wisconsin, all published by the University of Minnesota Press.
Review :
"Never Trust a Thin Cook is a funny little intimate travel tale, it's like getting a series of letters from a good friend off on a great adventure."-Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, Minnesota Monthly
"An enjoyable waltz through Eric’s, oft food inspired, exploits in Modena. . . . Never Trust a Thin Cook is well worth reading. Even those with no intention of coming to live in the Living Museum, will find Dregni’s book provides an interesting and amusing insight into contemporary Italian culture and life. Great fun!"-Blog from Italy
"This book is a truthful account of life in Italy and seeing and reading it through the eyes of an American as he adjusts to Italian life is enlightening."-Italian American Girl
"Never Trust a Thin Cook opens with [Dregni and Katy] already in Modena. Dregni paints a picture of the alley off their apartment so thoroughly that, within three pages, I felt I was smelling herbs and hearing tires rolling on cobbled streets. The author so completely transported me into his space that I realized it is perfect recession reading: I feel like I’ve visited remote places in a European country without shelling out for the airfare."-Metro Lutheran
"M.F.K. Fisher once wrote that the mark of a true gourmet is a complete lack of caution. Dregni seems to apply that philosophy to all of life, at least in Modena, putting himself at the mercy of come what may, whether it’s accepting a bite of something dubious or an impromptu speaking engagement on a foreign subject. The resulting essays provide a rich, if sometimes absurd, look at many aspects of Italian life: sex, politics, taxes, postal service, bikes, opera, soccer, superstition-and of course, food."-The Heavy Table
"It’s a journey of gastronomical proportion, but it is also an exploration of cultural differences, awkward ‘lost in translation’ moments, and charming, homeless drunks who direct traffic and can speak eloquently on local history."-City Pages
"A pleasant read."-Star Tribune
"Dregni’s essays easily and deftly draw the reader into the rhythm of his Italian community-a trait he shares with Frances Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun), although readers will find him rather more attuned to the quiet humor of the everyday. This witty and evocative culinary memoir will appeal to food lovers, those interested in Italy and Italian culture, and anyone who enjoys a good travel narrative."-Library Journal
"This is a splendid book for anyone who appreciates Italy and its people and to reminisce about their own experiences. It is funny, educational and enduring. Eric Dregni, the raconteur, uses his skillful writing to embrace each and every tale. I highly recommend this fabulous book, read it, you will not be sorry."-The Boston Post-Gazette
"Never Trust a Thin Cook is a refreshing non-ethnocentric dip into Italian culture, with essays on everything from the importance of hats in the Italian wardrobe to the exhaustive list of celebrated saints’ days."-Minnesota Daily
"Dregni’s new book is comprised of individual stories layered together into a rich and satisfying whole. . . It is a tasty comparison of American and Italian cultures with a side of humor."-Anne Thillen, Woodbury-South Maplewood Review
"A delightful chronicle of three years of eating in Italy."-Star Tribune
"Readers of Dregni’s In Cod We Trust will delight in his gastronomic two-year adventure in Modena, Italy."-Lavender
"Never Trust a Thin Cook by Eric Dregni can be devoured in less time than is required to sit down and eat an authentic Italian meal cooked by la momma, and it’s every bit as satisfying."-Minnesota Magazine
"What begins as a journey through Italy’s rich culinary traditions soon becomes a revealing portrait of how Italians live and how their culture differs from America’s. A professor of English at Concordia University in Minnesota, author Dregni spent two years in Modena, the ‘culinary capital’ in the title. There he delved into the lore of Modena’s famous balsamic vinegar, rich polenta, and even chocolate salami. He learns never to mix basil and oregano or cut up his spaghetti. . .it spoils the taste, he’s told. Anecdotes about his adventures and mishaps abound in this book about life in unpredictable Italy."-Italian American Magazine
"Never Trust a Thin Cook is one of those travelouges where the country being visited seems to remain strange to the writer even as he celebrates his experiences there - or at least the writer continues to present the culture as strange, even as he becomes accustomed to it. But each dispatch is just a brief taste of life in Italy; the full meal remains tempting."-Isthmus
"Never Trust a Thin Cook will hit you with culture shock the moment you start reading. It is much more than a cookbook; anyone with ah love of travel or who is thinking about teaching English overseas should pick up a copy. This lesson on life will most certainly leave you wondering, ‘what’s for dinner?’"-MinnesotaReads.com
"The tales or stories are light and frothy like the foam atop a cup of cappuccino."-PopMatters.com
"He cracks the social code of drinking espresso correctly and understands the place of spaghetti and meatballs in Italy, and for this we can give thanks."-PopMatters.com
"Enjoyable and easy to pick up and read."-Maria and Co.
"Perhaps the most liberating aspect of this book lies in Dregni’s voice, which carries a consistently friendly and oft-times humorous tone toward life in Italy. Each of the book’s brief, energetic chapters will make you feel as if you’re taking a moment out of the day to have a shot of espresso with a dear friend."-Italian American Magazine
"Highly readable and remarkably funny about Italian life and an American making the transition to Italian living. "-Bemidji Pioneer
