Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Oscar Farinetti, translated by Barbara McGilvray, Black Inc., $34.99.
Festive season 2022 is nearly upon us and what better way to celebrate than with food!
Let’s savour a celebration of accidental success in the world of gastronomy. For Farinetti, an Italian entrepreneur, author and founder of high-end global food chain Eataly, presents this collection of perceptive and enjoyable interviews with leading artisan food producers, chefs, inventors and CEOs around the world.
Farinetti has collected 50 stories that reflect how some of the greatest successes and examples of excellence in the food world came about by accident, from the invention of foods such as tarte tatin to the sandwich, not to mention international products like Nutella and Corn Flakes, plus some of the world’s best wines, Gorgonzola cheese, and Balsamic Vinegar.
Renowned delicacies like Milanese risotto rub shoulders with some unusual interlopers: Toscano cigars, Viagra and … humans themselves!
The word ‘serendipity’ is not just used for inventions. There’s serendipity in love, literature and in film (think Sliding Doors). “In this book I tell the great serendipitous stories relating to my area of work: food. I have been involved with food and wine as a professional for nearly 20 years, but as an amateur for more than double that.
A good many stories are conventional, in the sense that they’re about hugely successful and well-known dishes or drinks, like Coca-Cola and gorgonzola. Others are about great things that have come from trying to fix a mistake, an oversight or an accident; for example, panettone, Russian salad and Guinness. Others are about dishes, ingredients or drinks worth including just because their origins are so bizarre, such as chilli, Barolo and Milanese risotto.”
Discoveries which enrich our lives often occur by happy chance because when we err something miraculous can come from it.
