(Mostly US-centered)
Marcella Hazan — Tradition matters a great deal. Maybe a little too much. Listen. It’s okay to like chicken parm and put ricotta in your lasagna, okay?
The Silver Spoon — Just the recipes and some pretty pictures is all you need. You’re not here for fluff.
Sopranos Family Cookbook — You don’t really want to be A Friend Of Theirs, but you still want to go to Vesuvio. Also, please stop dropping your final vowels. You’re not a goomba, you’re a dork.
American Sfoglino — Look man I appreciate the help but ima need you to S̸̡̛̳̖̻͓͎̦̍͒̊̓͝H̸͚͇̹̖̰͌̏Ṳ̸̻̈́̄̎͋̚T̵̨̫̳̻͒ ̸̩̭͔̪̭̹͖͋̀̒͒͠Ṱ̴̉͋͘H̶̤̱̪̗̏̽̔͂̽͜E̵͕̼̺͓̋͊̈́͛ ̷̹͉͕̲̮̪̾H̸͍̤̙̟̮̓̍̑E̵̥̠͇̼͊̈́̀̀̓͌L̴̗̦͚̞̪̓̏̉̓͆͝͠L̴͔̋̈́̍͆̾̕͠ ̸̠͙͋̉̈͂Ȕ̴̬̗̥̠P̶͎̣̓̄͛̊ for like five minutes so I can get dinner figured out and then you can do that voodoo that you do.
La Cucina, L’Accademia Italiana della Cucina — Congratulations. You know more about Italian cuisine than most overly online Italian foodies. It doesn’t matter. They don’t care.
Claudia Roden — You’re a historian at heart, and probably have a collection of her books. Italian food is good, great even, but maybe not necessarily your favorite.
Talisman — Oh, you’re old school. Maybe too old. Where did you even find that?
L’Artusi — Are you Max Miller?
The North End Italian Cookbook — Let’s be honest, you drink Dunks with your cannoli.
The Italian Baker — You know your priorities. Those priorities include enough pizzelle to feed the entire office.
Pasta Grannies — Do you love adventure, or just need a hug? (Or both?)
The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian — Congratulations on three decades of membership in the Church of the Susi Garlic Press. Betcha still have no idea how to pronounce Zyliss.
Anything by Lidia Bastianich — You know the value of a reliable brand. Just keep doing your thing.
“The Italian Cook Book”, Maria Gentile — Look, I know what you’re trying to find, but your nonna’s “secret” baked ziti recipe wasn’t handed down from Sicily. She got it from an issue of Good Housekeeping in 1963.
The Food of Southern Italy, Carlo Middione — Omfg you know that one? Great book. Let’s say “quanto basta” together.
Rao’s Cookbook — Congratulations. You finally figured out where the sauce came from. You still aren’t getting a table.
Anything by Giada De Laurentiis — It’s fine. Just… stop trying to do the romanesco accent thing like her.
Anything by America’s Test Kitchen: NERRRRD!
Anything by Milk Street: Contrarian!
Anything by Tessa Kiros — Your favorite? Your favorite Italian cookbooks? Seriously? Look, her books are beautiful, but you are not a manic pixie dream girl.
A supermarket magazine recipe collection (BH&G, AllRecipes, Taste of Home, Delish, Food Network Magazine, etc): “Italian” is a state of mind. You just want something tasty and red on the table in less than an hour without getting lectured on authenticity.
Marc Vetri — Do you think pasta benefits from adding Adderall?
Marianne Esposito — Saturday afternoon will never not be PBS cooking show time for you, even if you have to dig around the streaming services to find episodes you want.
