Page 16 - Boca Club News - March '22

Page 16, Boca Club News

The Arts

Book Review...“Taste: My Life Through Food”

By Nils A. Shapiro experiences that make it clear for Italy, in which he tours the regions of that country bringing
Of the many hats fit to be worn by he is not into name-dropping viewers a taste of their famous foods and cultures.
Stanley Tucci—actor, writer, producer, just for the sake of it. To say that I devoured this book after just a few bites of
director, with 70 films to his credit plus But “Taste” is more than the first several pages in an understatement. I finished its 286
scores of performances in television just a story of a life filled with pages in only two sittings—and there are several good reasons.
series, Broadway shows, Grammy- pleasure and success. Stanley To begin with, Tucci has a self-deprecating sense of humor
winning recordings and more—it’s Tucci’s first wife, Kathryn, that is quite charming. The following brief excerpt that ends
a safe bet that the hat he is most whom he married in 1995 the book’s Introduction section offers an example of this, and
comfortable wearing, and most enjoys, and with whom he had three makes him such an endearing companion in print that one can’t
is the white chef’s toque. children, died of cancer in help but feel he must be a fun guy to know, and wish that you
That is abundantly clear to anyone who has the good fortune 2009. could spend some time with him in person over a few good
to experience Tucci’s delicious and richly rewarding memoir A little over a year later, meals:
that quickly, and deservedly, landed on the national bestseller actress Emily Blunt, with “...I probably spend more time thinking about and focusing
lists and has been there for the past several months. whom Tucci had appeared on food than I do on acting, as is evidenced by some of my
I had not realized that this is actually Tucci’s third published in an earlier film, introduced recent performances; it seems appropriate that this primary
book, the first two having been “The Tucci Cookbook” and him to her sister, Felicity, an agent residing in London. They passion take yet another form: that of a memoir of sorts. The
“The Tucci Table.” But, as the opening text of this new book’s got to know each other and were married in 2012. With her following pages offer a taste of such a memoir. I hope you find
dust cover’s flyleaf explains, “From award-winning actor and two children from a previous marriage, theirs is now a family them palatable. (More puns to follow.)”
food obsessive Stanley Tucci comes an intimate and charming of seven. Tucci, who despises Los Angeles and avoids it as Secondly, I myself was born in The Bronx, a borough of
memoir of his life in and out of the kitchen.” much as possible, now calls London home. New York City, and, together with my brother Don, was raised
I have italicized the above words because they are what is Knowing all of the above about Stanley Tucci, what do by deeply loving parents in the same kind of tight, close-knit
the very heart of this book. While food has always been a big you think would be a terrible punishment to inflict on him? family, with nearby grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins,
part of his life—from his childhood growing up in a warm, At Christmastime of 2017, Tucci was diagnosed with a large almost always enjoyed home-cooked meals from European
loving immigrant Italian family to the world travels made cancerous tumor at the base of his tongue. Surgery would Jewish recipes...so I related completely to Stanley Tucci’s
possible by his star-studded career—there is so much more to mean that he could never eat nor taste through his mouth again. descriptions of his growing-up years.
this man, and it is reflected in the down-to-earth, easygoing Having lost his first wife, Kathryn, to cancer, he describes the And, finally, I can only add that the very first pages of this
writing style and sense of humor that cannot help but give experience of facing that medical diagnosis, the decisions he book after the Introduction and the book’s very last pages are
you the feeling you are having a deeply personal conversation had to make, and the six months of treatment. brilliantly tied together in a way that brought tears to my eyes
with a close friend as you devour these pages at a hungry pace. While Tucci’s memoir ends before the production of his as I closed the cover...and just sat there for a while, so grateful
(Tucci also assumes you won’t mind his occasional use of the latest television success, we know the result of such treatment for having gotten to know this very special man. You should
four-letter “F___” word whenever he deems it appropriate!) from the fact that he recently took home an Emmy for his six- do the same.
Born in Westchester County, a suburb of New York City, part television documentary series, Stanley Tucci: Searching
Stanley Tucci was raised by parents who had immigrated from
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