One year of Cucina Povera
Six cookbooks under my belt and a seventh in the works, I love many aspects of writing a cookbook.
Exactly one year ago, Cucina Povera ventured into the world. It is our first cookbook with an international publisher, our first cookbook that has been thought, tested, and written first—and for the moment, just—in English.
Tommaso and I want to say grazie, a big heartfelt thank-you, to all our family and friends, and everyone who helped us bring this book to reality, and to you, for your invaluable support, for the photos you sent us showing Cucina Povera in actual bookstores around the world, for trying out its recipes and adding them to your family cooking repertoire, for trusting us with your time, for leaving enthusiastic reviews, for gifting it to your families and friends. Thank you! ❤️
Cucina Povera is the red thread that characterizes the way my family has been cooking since I can remember, my approach to recipes and menus during cooking classes, and the way I daily feed my family.
To celebrate Cucina Povera first birthday, I looked back to the past 15 years, when I began writing about food online and fiddling with the idea of writing a cookbook.
Do you have Cucina Povera? Have you cooked something from it? What's your favorite recipe? Let me know in the comments!
Have I always dreamt of being a writer? As a teenager, when life has given you enough clues to have a haze understanding of what you want to be, or at least of what you don’t want to, I wanted to become a marketing manager, my imagination fed by classic 80’s movies like Working Girl. Growing up, I realized my role model was more Dianne Keaton in Baby Boom rather than the smart, plucky Melanie Griffith in Working Girl.
Even when I started Juls’ Kitchen blog 15 years ago, initially I thought that it could be just a pastime, a way of channeling my two lasting passions for cooking and writing into a gratifying sideline. It was the encounter with Tessa Kiros’ cookbooks that swiftly changed my dreams and my personal idea of success.
I discovered I wanted to write cookbooks, that everything I had done till that moment had brought me right there, clutching a dream I had just discovered—my university studies in communication and marketing, my teenage years spent daydreaming menus on cheap cooking magazines, my savings invested in an English program after work, my blooming collection of cookbooks, an innate shyness that led me to choose food as my favorite way of expressing myself and showing love.
I became a cooking class teacher with a bold dream. It was not a corner office, nor a designer bag, a high salary, an expensive car, or the possibility to go on a trip around the world. I wanted to be a writer, a cookbook author.
My first cookbook, in 2011, was dedicated to my nonna: it was a small regional edition, English and Italian in the same page, a collection of recipes from the blog. I started small, but it was emotional. During the book launch—held in the garden of a lovely hotel in Siena with my family and friends—I couldn’t look at my mum. She was crying, but I was expecting it, as we’re both weepy. So I moved my eyes to my grandma, usually not inclined to tears. She was crying, too. I resolved to turn my gaze to my aunt Teresa, the family rock, and there she was, with misty eyes.
Writing cookbooks has been a steep, winding road, with false turns, surprises, and lessons learnt: I discovered the importance of being patience, of paying attention to details, of carving our your own path, honing your unique voice. I washed more dishes that I can recall, named the dishwasher my best friend, spent late nights trying to recall the exact viscosity of a sauce, or searching for new words to describe the method to seal parcels of fresh pasta. I received one star reviews on Amazon that made me feel like rubbish for a couple of hours (and more), and generous feedback with flying colors that healed my heart.
Six cookbooks under my belt and a seventh in the works, I love many aspects of writing a cookbook.
Within the pages of a book, an attentive eye can catch the portrait you unconsciously paint of who you are in a certain moment in time: what you cook, what you read, how you stack you pantry, what flavor combinations you lean towards, the methods, shortcuts, and quirkiness of your cuisine. Even if Cucina Povera is not a food memoir, but rather an accurate collection of recipes representing the Italian approach to food, there’s a lot about the way I see food, or the memories of people who introduced me to a flavor, recipe, or technique for the first time.
I dread and love the editing months: you are fondly attached to every single word you put in your manuscript, and how painful it is to kill your darlings. But when you get through the editing phase, you hold a cleaner, smarter, polished manuscript, something you can be proud of. It was worth the snorts, the endless back and forth, the moments when just wanted to cry, or scream, or both.
Come the publishing date, and the book is no longer yours.
It has a life on its own out there, and you hope it will find the right people who will receive it with open hearts and hungry stomachs.
Now, in the early stages of writing our next cookbook, I’m eager to start all over again. It’s just like with labor pain: the days after you gave birth you swear you won’t ever go through all that pains, screams and tears anymore, but you quickly forget it and you would be ready to live it all again for the love of that warm bundle of joy. Maybe.
Cucina Povera, shares the wholesome, comforting, and nostalgic recipes of cucina povera—the Italian peasant cooking—that is equal parts thrifty, nourishing, and delicious. You can pick your copy here.
If you already have Cucina Povera, if cooked from it, and love it, leave a review on Amazon, whether you got it there or not. And thank you if you already took the time to write it, we are so grateful!
Archive posts on the way Cucina Povera was born
How to get six additional, unique recipes that complement Cucina Povera
Meet the Food Photographer and Food Stylist behind Cucina Povera
Cucina Povera was selected as one of the 19 Best New Spring Cookbooks of 2023 by Food & Wine, as One of the 5 Best Cookbooks of Spring 2023 by WSJ, and as one of the 25 Best Cookbook of 2023 by Delicious Magazine.
“As a home cook that likes to stretch every ingredient as far as possible, Giulia Scarpaleggia's Cucina Povera has become a favorite in my household.” - Sean Flynn, Food & Wine
Some recipes from Cucina Povera
- shared in her newsletter the recipe for Nettle Gnudi and Apple Olive Oil Cake
- shared on the recipe for risi e bisi, rice and pea soup
- on shared two thrifty, bready recipes: pallotte cacio e ova and pappa al pomodoro
On the BBC website you can find the recipe for Italy's classic pasta e patate (pasta and potatoes) dish
The Splendid Table shared the recipe for Frittata di Spaghetti
On OregonLive you can find the recipe for the Sicilian Almond-Milk Pudding (Biancomangiare di latte di mandorla)
Here on Letters from Tuscany you can find the recipe for Grape focaccia.
Podcast tour - Where I talked about Cucina Povera in the past year
Even though we didn’t have a proper book tour, I talked about Cucina Povera with some of my favorite podcast hosts: it has been quite a journey!
Sharing the flavor, Ep. Cucina Povera with Giulia Scarpaleggia.
1 Sealed Letter, Ep. 53: Letters from Tuscany with Giulia Scarpaleggia.
Cooking the Books with Gilly Smith, Season 23, Ep. 8: Giulia Scarpaleggia: Cucina Povera
A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life, Ep. 85: Cucina Povera & the Art of Making Do with Food Writer Giulia Scarpaleggia
Flavor of Italy podcast, Cucina Povera, new book by Giulia Scarpaleggia
The Crumb - Bake from Scratch. Ep. Tuscan Cooking and Baking with Giulia Scarpaleggia.
Everything Cookbooks, Ep. 68: A Cookbook from the Tuscan Countryside with Giulia Scarpaleggia
More articles on Food Writing
From the Kitchen
For Easter I baked the Florentine Chocolate and Semolino Tart, typically baked in Florence and Tuscany around Easter time. It is also the dessert I ate the first night I had dinner with Tommaso. On the blog you find an updated version, if you want to give it a try. Get the recipe here.
Cooking Experiences in Tuscany with us
Do you know we also offer in-person cooking classes and edible experiences in Tuscany? Our calendar is slowly filling up, over 330 people have already booked a class this year, and there are only a few days left available during the high season. And yes, bookings for 2025 are already open, too!
Every meal will be an excuse to travel through Tuscany thanks to local recipes, memories and stories. Learn more about our cooking classes here.
If you are planning a trip to Italy take a look at our food experiences or share the word with your friends.
Next available openings:
April 18th, Tuscan Cooking Class, 3 available spots
May 15th, Market to Table Cooking Class, 3 available spots
May 22nd, Market to Table Cooking Class, 3 available spots
June 14th, Tuscan Cooking Class, 3 available spots
June 19th to 21st, Three Day Tuscan Masterclass, 2 available spots
June 27th, Tuscan Cooking Class, 3 available spots
November 13th to 15th, Three Day Tuscan Masterclass, 6 available spots
December 11th to 13th, Three Day Tuscan Masterclass, 6 available spots
Congrats on the milestone and good luck with the next book!
I can't believe it's a year old already!! I'm proud of you for taking a moment to celebrate it at this mark; I rarely took time to do that with each of my books and it's important to pause, remember the accolades and catch your breath as you move forward. Brava, friends!! x