Mincemeat: The Education of an Italian Chef - Hardcover

"The bad-boy chef memoir might as well have its own section in bookstores and Mincemeat places itself squarely in a tradition personified by Anthony Bourdain...Mr. Lucarelli is also a hilariously funny writer...His book reads like a picaresque novel as he roams from kitchen to kitchen, encountering thick-necked mobsters, lustful waitresses and cheating bosses. His description of an encounter with a pastry chef he meets at a party in Rome is delivered in typical deadpan humor." -Wall Street Journal

"If you're in the mood for an internationally acclaimed, intellectually captivating memoir with an almost Conradian atmosphere, you'll be served well by maverick chef Leonardo Lucarelli's Mincemeat." -ELLE

"Wise and often very funny, the book offers sumptuous glimpses into human foibles and provides readers an unforgettable taste of the unabashedly sordid realities that underlie the high-gloss world of Italian cuisine. A wickedly candid memoir." -Kirkus Reviews

"If you love food but not cooking, satisfy your appetite with Mincemeat: the Education of an Italian Chef, Leonardo Lucarelli's kitchen confidential from bel paese." -Family Circle Magazine

"Enthralling." -BBC.com

"Celebrated chef Lucarelli has a bad-boy reputation, but he's more than just the Italian Anthony Bourdain. In his new memoir, the chef and anthropologist writes about his experiences working in some of Italy's finest restaurants, where employees live hard and wild, but always adhere to an unwritten code of loyalty." -MensJournal.com

"Personal and heartfelt...Mincemeat is a damn good memoir." -Shelf Awareness

"Translated from the Italian, Lucarelli's culinary autobiography moves at breakneck speed, just like his kitchen." -Booklist

Leonardo Lucarelli was born in India and has since resided in regions all across Italy, including Rome, Lazio, Emilia Romagna, Veneta, Trentino, and Tuscany. He entered the culinary world while a college student, and after completing a degree in anthropology, he became a chef. He has worked in the kitchens of fifteen restaurants - some Michelin-starred, and seven of which he served as chef. Lucarelli currently lives in L'Aquila, where he consults for several restaurants in Rome. Lorena Rossi Gori, who was born in Scotland and raised in Australia, came to Italy on a family holiday and never left. An avid traveller and opera fan, she works as a conference interpreter and translator. Danielle Rossi was born in Melbourne, Australia, and lived and studied in Hobart, Florence, Lucca, and Milan before eventually resettling in Melbourne, where she teaches Italian and translating at Monash University. Danielle and Lorena come from a long line of hoteliers and restaurateurs and know a thing or two about demented knife-hurling chefs.