Italian Street Food: Recipes from Italy’s Bars and Hidden Laneways is finally available, and I just received my copy!  Some of you may remember in February I had the pleasure of being a ‘recipe tester’ for Paola Bacchia of Italy on my Mind for this book. I tested the recipe for Fiadoni Abbruzzesi which were squisito.  I have made them several times now and can’t wait to try more of the recipes.

A country’s street food is usually reflective of its ‘real’ food…what people actually eat.  Paola draws on her own experiences growing up in an Italian family, and also her frequent ‘on site’ experiences travelling the back streets of Italian cities.  Many of the recipes are similar to things I grew up eating too.  Besides the yummy and genuine recipes, the book is visually stunning.  Most of the photos were taken by Paola.  The cover is not a teaser-the inside is just as beautiful.  Each recipe also comes with a story about the history of the food and Paola’s personal experience with where she tasted it. I know some of you are drooling and jealous reading this, but you can order your own copy from Amazon.

Paola is Italoaustraliana, living in Melbourne and her roots are in the Veneto and Istria.  She teaches cooking classes in Melbourne and is a guest instructor at the  Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School in Sicilia.  Her blog was voted best food blog twice in the ITALY magazine blog awards.  Cool fact-Paola was also a contestant on Masterchef Australia! Buon Appetito, Cristina