Customer Reviews
Title says it all! - By: Caroline, 28 Jun 2008 
I love this book. It's an unusual mixture, a hard book to categorise, but that's its stength. For many who come to Tuscany it's the perfect mixture as the great food & beautiful scenery combined are such a part of the pleasure. Beth Elon suggests driving routes with places to see along the way, then explains the food specialities of each area,lists special places to eat, then gives a few sample recipes from each restaurant. One of the real strengths is the local specialities information, as it reallly highlights some of traditions & how food can be unique to a particular smalll location not just 'Tuscany' as a larger region. We have found the restaurants that we've tried from the book to be just as described, with excellent, good value food & have found thanks to the book some wonderful, but out of the way places that we would probably never have discovered by ourselves. For those for whom food is key part of the holiday or for those who want to find out about the less touristed parts of Tuscany 'off the beaten track' as the sub-title states, this is a great book. It also serves a duel function of being a good read before a trip for planning & getting in the mood but also useful to bring along for routes, places to see & places to eat when you're actuallly in Tuscany (if travelling by car, not a public transport oriented book) If, like me, you plan your days out around a good lunch, then it's the ideal book!
The most wonderful way to eat your way around Tuscany - By: C. Milne Home, 26 May 2008 Being a food lover & a keen traveler it is a battle to find a travel guide which will give me the depth of information that I would like about both the area & the food. Beth Elon has produced the perfect combination for anyone like me. She combines simple day trip driving routes around the beautiful Tuscan countryside (with views to look at, churches to visit & villages to wander through) with incredible restaurants. She mixes expensive, grand restaurants with smalll, rustic ones where you will be the only foreigner but will feel welcomed as an honoured guest. In alll the places that I ate in on my last trip I didn't have a singe bad meal in fact, given the chance I would go back & have every single one again & again. The only draw back is that because some of the places listed are very local they are also quite hard to find - so except maybe a bit of driving around looking for the restaurant. Then again, you get to see far more of the countryside that way, so it is not alll bad.
After each restaurant entry (complete with address, pricing bracket & directions) Beth provides a wonderful chatty style summary of the style of place, food & owner. More importantly to any foodies out there she also includes at least one of the restaurants staple dishes so that you can go home & re-produce the fantastic food you ate.
I cannot rate this book highly enough if you are planning to visit the Florence area. Read, travel, eat, enjoy!
Buy, cook, then travel (by car). - By: Index Research, 14 Jan 2007 I buy many books, but not often cookbooks. This winter, I changed this pattern & bought Beth Elon's book, Georgio Locatelli's amazing blockbuster, & River Cafe Cookbook Easy. A feast of Christmas reading. But my feelings of pride & happiness are for Beth's very personal approach. I hope that Locatelli & Gray/ Rogers will visit her. They will enjoy themselves with such a personable, beautiful woman in a very special location - & learn a lot too! There is an excellent B & B nearby.
