# What are the best books about the history of Italian food? Canonical: https://zestasy.com/books/books-about-italian-food-history/ Section: Books & ideas · Updated: 2026-10-13 · Publisher: Zestasy Start with Delizia! by John Dickie (2007), a lively history arguing that Italian food was shaped above all by its cities, not by peasant tradition. For more depth, read Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History by Alberto Capatti and Massimo Montanari (1999 in Italian), which makes the case for a shared national tradition beneath the regional variety, then dip into Pellegrino Artusi's 1891 cookbook as a primary source. Italian food comes wrapped in myths: that it is ancient and unchanging, that it was invented by grandmothers in farmhouses, that every region has always cooked in splendid isolation. Good food history is the pleasure of having those myths taken apart, gently, by someone who loves the food as much as you do. These are the books we would start with. ## Delizia!, John Dickie (2007) Dickie is Professor of Italian Studies at University College London, where he has taught since 1993, and he is also known for his history of the Sicilian mafia, Cosa Nostra. Delizia! The Epic History of the Italians and Their Food was published in 2007 and runs from antiquity to the present day. Its big argument is a provocation. Dickie challenges the idea that Italian food is essentially the cooking of the rural poor, pointing out that ordinary country people in the Middle Ages mostly ate very basic fare. Instead he argues that Italy's cities, with their markets, money and rivalries, drove culinary invention, and that foods like Parmigiano-Reggiano and mortadella became staples through urban trade. He also suggests that the idea of Italian food as many people abroad know it is a fairly modern creation. It is written for general readers, full of stories, some indulgent and some about real hardship, and it is the best single introduction to the subject. Publishers Weekly's review singled out its lively stories, and they are the reason it is so easy to read. **Read it if:** you want one readable book that will change how you think about what is on your plate. ## Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History, Alberto Capatti and Massimo Montanari (1999) First published in Italian by Laterza in 1999 as La cucina italiana: storia di una cultura, and in English by Columbia University Press in 2003. Montanari is a professor of medieval history at the University of Bologna, where he directs an international master's programme in the history and culture of food. The authors take on the familiar view that Italian food is simply a mosaic of separate regional cuisines, the product of centuries of political division. They argue instead that a distinctive, shared culinary tradition developed across the peninsula, built through constant exchange of techniques and ingredients between regions and social classes. The book focuses on the late medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods, draws heavily on early cookbooks, and is organised by theme, around ingredients, dishes, techniques and customs, rather than chronologically. Along the way it makes some memorable claims, such as that Italians took up the fork centuries before other Europeans. It is more academic than Delizia! and denser going, but rewarding if you want the scholarship behind the stories. **Read it if:** you have read Delizia! and want more. ## Artusi, as a primary source Pellegrino Artusi's La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene, self-published in Florence in 1891, is not a history book, but it is one of the most important documents in the history of Italian food: a single cookbook gathering recipes from across the regions for home cooks, which helped shape the idea of a national cuisine. Reading some of it after the two histories above is like visiting the archive after the lecture. We tell the full story at /books/who-was-pellegrino-artusi/. ## Which one first? - **For a story-driven overview:** Delizia! - **For academic depth:** Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History. - **For the real thing:** Artusi. ## FAQ ### Do these books contain recipes? The two histories are narrative, not cookbooks. Artusi's book is entirely recipes, though written with plenty of chat and anecdotes. ### Is cucina povera a myth, then? Not a myth, but a more complicated story than the romantic version. Our page /food/what-is-cucina-povera/ looks at what the term means in practice. ### Is Delizia! only about famous dishes? No. It is as interested in markets, money, cities and ordinary diets as in celebrated dishes, which is what makes it more than a list of classics. ### Are these good for someone who mostly wants to cook? They will make you a more curious cook rather than a better-equipped one. For practical Italian cooking, start with Marcella Hazan: see /books/who-was-marcella-hazan/. ## Sources - [Publishers Weekly: review of Delizia! by John Dickie](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780743277990) - [Wikipedia: John Dickie (historian)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dickie_(historian)) - [Wellcome Collection: La cucina italiana, storia di una cultura (catalogue record)](https://wellcomecollection.org/works/vz935yra) - [Wikipedia: Massimo Montanari](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massimo_Montanari) - [Massive Bookshop: Italian Cuisine, A Cultural History (Columbia University Press description)](https://massivebookshop.com/products/9780231122320) ## Related - [Who was Pellegrino Artusi, and why does his cookbook still matter?](https://zestasy.com/books/who-was-pellegrino-artusi/) - [What is cucina povera?](https://zestasy.com/food/what-is-cucina-povera/) - [Who was Marcella Hazan, and which of her books should you start with?](https://zestasy.com/books/who-was-marcella-hazan/) - [What are the best food books that aren't cookbooks?](https://zestasy.com/books/food-books-that-arent-cookbooks/) - [What is a soffritto, and why does it matter?](https://zestasy.com/food/what-is-a-soffritto/) - [All Books & ideas answers](https://zestasy.com/books/)