{"product_id":"9780865476967","title":"Stolen Figs : And Other Adventures in Calabria","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eStolen Figs\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Mark Rotella\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eCalabria is the toe of the boot that is Italy \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e-- \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003ea rugged  peninsula where grapevines and fig and olive trees cling to the  mountainsides during scorching summers. Calabria is also a seedbed of  Italian-American culture; in North America, more people of Italian  heritage trace their roots to Calabria than to almost any other region  in Italy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMark Rotella's \u003ci\u003eStolen Figs \u003cb\u003e-- \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003enamed a Best Travel Book of 2003 by\u003ci\u003e Condé Nast Traveler \u003cb\u003e-- \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eis  a marvelous evocation of Calabria. A grandson of Calabrese immigrants,  Rotella persuades his father to visit the region for the first time in  thirty years; once there, he meets Giuseppe, a postcard photographer who  becomes his guide. As they travel around the region, Giuseppe initiates  Rotella \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e-- \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eand the reader \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e-- \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003einto its secrets: how to make a soppressata and 'nduja, and, of course, how to steal a fig without committing a crime. \u003ci\u003eStolen Figs\u003c\/i\u003e is a model travelogue \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e-- \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eat  once charming and wise, and full of an earthy and unpretentious sense  of life that now, as ever, characterizes Calabria and its people.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Mr. Rotella is not writing tourist or voyeur gastronomy; he is writing about food and life. And his \u003ci\u003eStolen Figs\u003c\/i\u003e, with its travels and sights and encounters, goes beyond any of these things. It is about life: Calabrians' and ultimately his own.” —\u003ci\u003eRichard Eder, The New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Rotella's account of his travels there, combined with family history and memories, is a charming digression from the unbearably lush memoirs of Tuscany and other more romantic parts of Italy.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Italian Americans of a new generation are discovering their homeland, and they could not ask for a better guide than Mark Rotella.” —\u003ci\u003eGay Talese\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eStolen Figs\u003c\/i\u003e is a charming, entertaining, graceful, warm-blooded tale, a genuine contribution to what we know about who we once were.” —\u003ci\u003eBill Tonelli, editor of The Italian American Reader\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Calabria deserves to be discovered and Mark Rotella is an enthusiastic and compassionate guide, traveling from the top to the toe of this least-known region of Italy to uncover the people, the food and the folk traditions that make up his Calabrian heritage.” —\u003ci\u003eMary Taylor Simeti, author of On Persephone's Island: A Sicilian Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9780865476967\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"North Point Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40667540291790,"sku":"9780865476967","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_3880684f-df7a-4af3-875c-a43ce854b9c5.jpg?v=1639712959","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9780865476967","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}