Anna Del Conte brought Italian cooking to Britain at a time when the nearest most of us came to pasta was a Heinz spaghetti hoop. Sharply observant, evocative, full of tastes and talk of food, hers is a delicious, poignant memoir of an unusual life and the food she loves to cook, which launched a culinary revolution.
She arrived in England in 1949 when much of Britain was a culinary wasteland, married an Englishman, and stayed on. Her memories of the time are vividly, hilarious preserved - from the joys of un-rationed horse meat to tomato soup at Lyons Corner House. While bringing up her children, she wrote books that inspired a new generation of cooks.