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Lidia's Commonsense Italian Cooking: 150 Delicious and Simple Recipes Anyone Can Master: A Cookbook
From one of the most beloved chefs and authors in America, a beautifully illustrated collection of 150 simple, seasonal Italian recipes told with commonsense cooking wisdom —from the cutting board to the kitchen table.
As storyteller and chef, Lidia Bastianich draws on anecdotes to educate and illustrate. Recalling lessons learned from her mother, Erminia, and her grandmother Nonna Rosa, Lidia pays homage to the kitchen sages who inspired her.
Whether it's Citrus Roasted Veal or Rustic Ricotta Tart, each recipe is a tangible feast. We learn to look at ingredients as both geographic and cultural indicators. In Campania, the region where mozzarella is king, we discover it best eaten three hours after preparation. In Genova we are taught that while focaccia had its basil origins in the Ligurain culinary tradition, the herbs and flavorings will change from region to region; as home chefs, we can experiment with rosemary or oregano or olives or onions! When it's time for dessert, Lidia draws on the scared customs of nuns in Italian monasteries and convents and reveals the secret to rice pudding with a blessing.
Lidia's Commonsense Guide to Italian Cooking is a masterclass in creating delectable Italian dishes with grace, confidence and love.
As storyteller and chef, Lidia Bastianich draws on anecdotes to educate and illustrate. Recalling lessons learned from her mother, Erminia, and her grandmother Nonna Rosa, Lidia pays homage to the kitchen sages who inspired her.
Whether it's Citrus Roasted Veal or Rustic Ricotta Tart, each recipe is a tangible feast. We learn to look at ingredients as both geographic and cultural indicators. In Campania, the region where mozzarella is king, we discover it best eaten three hours after preparation. In Genova we are taught that while focaccia had its basil origins in the Ligurain culinary tradition, the herbs and flavorings will change from region to region; as home chefs, we can experiment with rosemary or oregano or olives or onions! When it's time for dessert, Lidia draws on the scared customs of nuns in Italian monasteries and convents and reveals the secret to rice pudding with a blessing.
Lidia's Commonsense Guide to Italian Cooking is a masterclass in creating delectable Italian dishes with grace, confidence and love.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
475 people are currently reading
909 people want to read
About the author
Lidia Matticchio Bastianich
35 books173 followersLidia Matticchio Bastianich is an American chef, businesswoman and restaurateur.
Specializing in Italian and Croatian cuisine, she has been a regular contributor to the PBS cooking show lineup since 1998. In 2007, she launched her third TV series, Lidia's Italy. She also owns four Italian restaurants in the U.S. in partnership with her son, the winemaster and restaurateur, Joseph Bastianich: Felidia (founded with her ex-husband, Felice) and Becco in Manhattan; Lidia's Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Lidia's Kansas City in Kansas City, Missouri.
Specializing in Italian and Croatian cuisine, she has been a regular contributor to the PBS cooking show lineup since 1998. In 2007, she launched her third TV series, Lidia's Italy. She also owns four Italian restaurants in the U.S. in partnership with her son, the winemaster and restaurateur, Joseph Bastianich: Felidia (founded with her ex-husband, Felice) and Becco in Manhattan; Lidia's Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Lidia's Kansas City in Kansas City, Missouri.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews
August 18, 2018
Initially, I wasn't familiar with the name Alistair MacLean until I came to know that he had penned Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare, both of which were adapted into films that inspired my early love for cinema. As it happens, we had this particular MacLean title at home and I really enjoyed perusing it as a child.
Fast-paced, sexy and a logic-defying thriller, Caravan to Vaccares is set in the 1960s and has a certain Neil Bowman investigating a number of disappearances in the Provence region of France, as gypsies gather around for their annual pilgrimage. Going undercover accompanying Cecile Dubois, a breathtakingly beautiful woman, as he investigates these shady circles, coming across bull rings, hidden graves and bloodthirsty gypsies with a secret to kill for.
Caravan to Vaccares was loosely adapted into a 1974 film starring David Birney and Charlotte Rampling
The book's writing may appear to be a bit dated in the 21st century. However, if you're looking for a fast-paced thriller devoid of logic, you can give this a try.
Fast-paced, sexy and a logic-defying thriller, Caravan to Vaccares is set in the 1960s and has a certain Neil Bowman investigating a number of disappearances in the Provence region of France, as gypsies gather around for their annual pilgrimage. Going undercover accompanying Cecile Dubois, a breathtakingly beautiful woman, as he investigates these shady circles, coming across bull rings, hidden graves and bloodthirsty gypsies with a secret to kill for.
Caravan to Vaccares was loosely adapted into a 1974 film starring David Birney and Charlotte Rampling
The book's writing may appear to be a bit dated in the 21st century. However, if you're looking for a fast-paced thriller devoid of logic, you can give this a try.
September 23, 2022
Alistair MacLean was a first-rate thriller writer in a similar way to Colin Forbes. He can tell a story and I always want to find out what happens next. Though I'm not 100% invested in the characters, I still want to see how the writer will finish the book.
I first read this book in my childhood - after finishing all the Famous Five books - and he was one of the writers who made me realise what could be achieved in a book by a skilled author.
This book receives only 3 stars because the ending feels contrived and everything is revealed all at once rather than suspensefully over several chapters. Having said that, I read it all in two days during my holidays so there must have been something that kept me going back for more. I will read another one of his books, I think there's two of his I never read, to connect me with my youthful reading choices. Who knows, eventually I might start reading Five on Finniston Farm again!
I first read this book in my childhood - after finishing all the Famous Five books - and he was one of the writers who made me realise what could be achieved in a book by a skilled author.
This book receives only 3 stars because the ending feels contrived and everything is revealed all at once rather than suspensefully over several chapters. Having said that, I read it all in two days during my holidays so there must have been something that kept me going back for more. I will read another one of his books, I think there's two of his I never read, to connect me with my youthful reading choices. Who knows, eventually I might start reading Five on Finniston Farm again!
November 30, 2024
A man doesn’t die before he has to.
Alistair MacLean was the coolest writer in the world around the time I was 12 or 13 years old, somewhere between my Jules Verne and Karl May period and my Raymond Chandler, James Hadley Chase, Peter Cheney period. Sometimes, it is better to lay these sleeping giants where they belong, down some dark and dusty memory lanes. They don’t always measure up to my old age expectations.
Caravan to Vaccares is a fine showcase of his mid-career offer: a solid action thriller that doesn’t quite measure up to his early blockbusters, but it is still better than some of his later published train wrecks.
The novel started as a movie script from a producer who probably demanded something similar to Charade with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn: a cold war thriller with posh locations and a big romance hook. MacLean delivers on the action part of the novel. Too bad he was never any good at writing romance and funny dialogues. His stories were always testosterone driven, no-frills violent action thrillers, like The Guns from Navarone or Where Eagles Dare.
"I'm a storyteller, that's all. There's no art in it, no mystique. It's a job like any other. The secret, if there is one, is speed. That's why there's so little sex in my books – it holds up the action."
>>><<<>>><<<
The caravan in the title refers to the pretty houses on wheels that movie studios use for gypsies or circus performers travelling. My own childhood memories from Romania are exclusively of fabric covered carts, dirtier and smaller but otherwise similar to the ones you can see used by settlers in Western movies.
Vaccares is a region in the southern part of Provence, close to the Mediterranean sea and part of the large wetlands known as the Camargue. It is the destination of a large gathering of nomads from all over Europe for an annual gypsy festival in Arles. Some of the family wagons come from behind the Iron Curtain and the focus is on one of the most violent and secretive clans led by a guy named Czerda.
Czerda is prepared and willing to kill to keep his secret mission a secret.
A rather large and odd group of tourists are also following the caravan. An epicurean and loud mouthed Duc le Hobenaut, a pair of Asian looking sigh-seers, a couple of very young and very beautiful English girls named Lila and Cecile and, finally, a nondescript jack of all trades man that plays a rather unconvincing role of playboy and adventurer.
It’s rather plain that this Neil Bowman is in fact a secret agent, probably British, who is following the Czerda clan and knows more than he lets on about their secret mission. But who else is playing this game of cloak and daggers?
Everyone fears them, thinks that they have the evil eye, that they put spells and curses on those who offend them. The Communists believe it as much as anyone, more, for all I know. Nonsense, of course, sheer balderdash. But it’s what people believe that matters.
MacLean has done some solid research on gypsies in Europe, although he is not free of the usual racist remarks that they must all come from Romania, maybe also Hungary. I wish he had extended his research to names, because the ones he is using, with the exception of Czerda which is of Hungarian origins, are funny and obvious inventions, not a single Romanian sounding name among the whole group.
A doom-laden place, implacable in its hostility, foreboding, menacing, redolent of death.
Although the purple prose raised several chuckles in the beginning, the real action starts somewhere around page three or four and doesn’t let up until the final page. MacLean doesn’t need subtlety when he can have gun fights, knife fights, bull fights, car and boat chases, cliff hanging by the tip of you fingers and other edge-of-your seat moments.
Even the plot becomes largely irrelevant and just an excuse for Bowman and one of the girls [Cecile] to be on the run from the bad guys and to improbably escape from a sure death only to fall on the next page into another devilishly laid trap.
Bowman stood stock-still. His lips were compressed, his eyes narrow and still watchful. Some twelve hours previously, when inching up the ledge on the cliff-face in the ruined battlement of the ancient fortress he had known fear, and now he knew it again and admitted it to himself. It was no bad thing, he thought wryly. Fear it was that sent the adrenaline pumping, and adrenaline was the catalyst that triggered off the capacity for violent action and abnormally swift reaction: as matters stood now he was going to need all the adrenaline he could lay hands on.
In between running away from death, Bowman and Cecile engage in endless and mostly cringe inducing sexual banter and marriage proposals [from Bowman] who, like a typical alpha male, doesn’t take no for an answer.
“But how in heaven’s name am I going to have a bath without ...”
“I’ll give you a hand if you like,” Bowman volunteered.
This romance angle is not all that bad, if politically incorrect to a more modern audience. A surprisingly enjoyable part of the novel, given the fact that it is almost all done in dialogue and set action scenes from the original movie script, is the description of Provence, its small towns, its customs, the incredible Bouche-du-Rhone wetlands. I think a movie adaptation by a good action director could have used this material for a nice summer blockbuster.
There is in fact a 1974 version, but it has one of the lowest ratings of any MacLean sourced scripts, and my interest in watching it is minimal.
All plains are flat, but none as flat as the Camargue.
A three stars rating is a little generous for this story, but the action parts of the novel were good enough and my own past enchantment with the author doesn’t allow for any lower consideration.
March 15, 2014
This is the author of Where Eagles Dare, The Guns of Navarone, The Satan Bug, Ice Station Zebra, and many others. I can still recall, in colorful detail after 40 years, movies made of those first 2 titles. I was spellbound by the plot twists and heavy suspense, but then again, those were movies on a big screen.
Caravans to Vaccares reads now as sadly dated. The women are treated like dolls, liberties are taken with logic, and there are a few holes in the plot too large to accept. I found the book in a free box, and decided the 224 pages would be fun to read. I had read another of his short pieces, The Black Shrike, and had the same reaction, but didn’t hold it against this new title.
Caravans is about two men who are hanging around gypsy caravans during a 1960’s era festival where gypsies gather from far and wide. Each “picks up” a pretty girl who can serve as a foil, object of desire, and cover. Each girl obediently goes along with it, later to be put into danger. Power structures of shadowy organizations don’t become clear until the end… sort of clear. There is plenty of violence, a bull fight, and even rocket scientists being smuggled to China.
I think this imaginative writer’s best work is a fast, action-laden story with comradely, manly men, soldiers if possible, being heroic and clever against many odds. This one, like The Black Shrike, should be left in the free box.
Caravans to Vaccares reads now as sadly dated. The women are treated like dolls, liberties are taken with logic, and there are a few holes in the plot too large to accept. I found the book in a free box, and decided the 224 pages would be fun to read. I had read another of his short pieces, The Black Shrike, and had the same reaction, but didn’t hold it against this new title.
Caravans is about two men who are hanging around gypsy caravans during a 1960’s era festival where gypsies gather from far and wide. Each “picks up” a pretty girl who can serve as a foil, object of desire, and cover. Each girl obediently goes along with it, later to be put into danger. Power structures of shadowy organizations don’t become clear until the end… sort of clear. There is plenty of violence, a bull fight, and even rocket scientists being smuggled to China.
I think this imaginative writer’s best work is a fast, action-laden story with comradely, manly men, soldiers if possible, being heroic and clever against many odds. This one, like The Black Shrike, should be left in the free box.
December 29, 2023
Had too much science fiction on my iPad, so I bought this from the iBook store. It has been forty years since I read Caravan to Vaccares, and at least twenty years since I read anything by MacLean. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy this kind of story. Thin on character, but strong on plot and pacing, the rating remains unchanged. The scenario is simple enough: A nefarious group of gypsies are evildoers and murderers. Our hero figures out what they are up to and puts an end to it.
November 30, 2024
Terrific reread of a book that I first got into in 1970. I’d never forgotten this novel and it’s been on my shelf waiting for me for quite a long time. Since it was written over fifty years ago, there are some scenes and treatment of people that may jolt the modern reader, but overall, this is an incredibly fastpaced story with lots of action and romance.
May 10, 2017
MacLean was a favorite of my teen years. I don't know if I just grew up or this is one of his weaker books, but it's far from great (and far less than I remember).
His thrillers tend to isolate a small group of forceful people (behind the lines in WWII, at Ice Station Zebra, or in this case, in a rural and somewhat desolate part of southern France).
The action's a bit of a muddle and the ending preposterous. I'm still not 100% who works for whom.
It's entirely not-PC if you care (Roma and feminists in particular are likely to find reason for offense).
His thrillers tend to isolate a small group of forceful people (behind the lines in WWII, at Ice Station Zebra, or in this case, in a rural and somewhat desolate part of southern France).
The action's a bit of a muddle and the ending preposterous. I'm still not 100% who works for whom.
It's entirely not-PC if you care (Roma and feminists in particular are likely to find reason for offense).
February 13, 2011
“Caravan to Vaccares” is one of the worst Alistair MacLean novels I have ever read. It has a few humorous moments, but otherwise wasn’t really worth reading. The narrative is bloated, the dialogue is full of pointless, meaningless conversation, the characters are static and completely superficial and the plot is dull and disappointingly implausible.
August 9, 2016
I've always had a soft spot for MacLean's Caravan to Vaccares for some reason. Admittedly, a lot of my regard (and high ratings) of some of his books are due to nostalgia (not to mention his great responsibility in getting me reading in the first place!), but I can surely agree that much of his work leaves much to be wanted. If you, however, would like to check out his vast body of work, this is one of the 'certainly recommended' ones from me.
February 8, 2025
I finished this book unsure if the author intended the story to be devoid of logic. And I'm still unsure. There are certainly moments that were gripping and intense. And they were well written. You can't deny MacLean knows how to write high-stakes action. But then there were moments that felt like MacLean tried to increase suspense and tension, but I instead wondered why a character would walk back into the lion's den, when the lions were still around and in plentiful numbers, to just peek into a curtained window. Or how a group of villains could all be fooled by a man pretending to be somebody else. It almost felt like a farce at times.
A well written spy story is something I enjoy. And I want to read more of them. Unfortunately, I don't think this falls into that camp. It has spies. It has secrets. It has action. It has danger. But it also felt shallow and almost comedic.
A well written spy story is something I enjoy. And I want to read more of them. Unfortunately, I don't think this falls into that camp. It has spies. It has secrets. It has action. It has danger. But it also felt shallow and almost comedic.
July 9, 2014
I remember reading a bunch of MacLean's books while I was a teen and enjoying them immensely. This was during his most popular period when some of his books were made into big budget films - "Where Eagles Dare," "Ice Station Zebra," etc. So when I came across some sale paperbacks of his books I thought it would be fun to revisit my youth and rediscover him.
When I first began this book I wondered what it was I could have found appealing about him. The first thing that bothered me is how he could take a simple action - like looking around a corner - and turn it into a looooooong paragraph describing the character's motivations behind his desire to see what was around the conner. This almost caused me to put the book down then and there, and it did cause me to put it aside for longer than it would normally take to read a 200 page thriller.
Finally I picked it up again and got into the plot a bit more. As the action picked up the author tended to shorten his prose, or maybe I got more used to it. In any event I worked my way through it, which may not seem like high praise for a thriller. Still, the author's sense of place and his cliffhanger chapter endings recalled to me why I enjoyed his work so much way back when. At lease I will feel I should continue reading him when I'm looking for a light outing.
Now, I'm wondering if any of those movies based on his books still hold up after nearly 50 years away from them.....
When I first began this book I wondered what it was I could have found appealing about him. The first thing that bothered me is how he could take a simple action - like looking around a corner - and turn it into a looooooong paragraph describing the character's motivations behind his desire to see what was around the conner. This almost caused me to put the book down then and there, and it did cause me to put it aside for longer than it would normally take to read a 200 page thriller.
Finally I picked it up again and got into the plot a bit more. As the action picked up the author tended to shorten his prose, or maybe I got more used to it. In any event I worked my way through it, which may not seem like high praise for a thriller. Still, the author's sense of place and his cliffhanger chapter endings recalled to me why I enjoyed his work so much way back when. At lease I will feel I should continue reading him when I'm looking for a light outing.
Now, I'm wondering if any of those movies based on his books still hold up after nearly 50 years away from them.....
February 19, 2013
I read this book as part of a continuing experiment to reread books that I enjoyed back in the day. This one didn't work out so well and highlights a major shift in writing styles over the past 40 years. So a book that I was enthralled with 35 years ago is now mostly boring even though the story is told at pace. What it failed to do was grip the reader through lack of empathy and it felt like the obligation was for the reader to fall under the spell of the author without sufficient investment in character development.
I shall not call a halt to the experiment just yet so will have another crack at a MacLean book later in the year. Not holding out much hope though....on to Harry Bosch now!
I shall not call a halt to the experiment just yet so will have another crack at a MacLean book later in the year. Not holding out much hope though....on to Harry Bosch now!
August 1, 2018
I've read and enjoyed all of MacLean's better novels, generally agreed to be about half of what he wrote, which is pretty good as novelists go. I found this one at the Hood County Library sale and figured "how bad could it be for 50 cents?" In fact, pretty bad. It had the usual MacLean devices: a man with unforeseen abilities which are slowly revealed through action; the women he acts to protect, and who have little else to do; and a convoluted plot with many twists and reverses. Here, the action scenes were much longer than my attention span, the villains simple caricatures, and frankly, by the time it was over, mostly I just felt relief.
March 27, 2013
"Stop cringing," I had to tell myself. "This story was written back in the paleolithic era and just reflects the stonge-age values systems of the time. Relax and enjoy the chase scenes and the ebb and flow of the life-and-death scenarios."
September 20, 2020
During the annual gyspy pilgrimage acrooss Europes, gyspys are being murdered. Cecile Dubois and Niel Bowman investigate which puts their lives in danger.
February 3, 2015
Easy to read with simple ingredients, but I was disappointed in some of the recipes that I made. They lacked "punch".
August 17, 2017
This was my first MacLean. I bought it new in 1971 for $.95. Great tension and wonderful descriptions. A couple of spots where things got confusing but worth it.
March 21, 2019
Alistair MacLean is one of my favourite authors and I picked this book up just because of his name. Though definitely not in the class of his great novels, it is a fast paced, entertaining read that is good for a lazy afternoon. It has lot of action, from chases on foot, on horses and on boats, to bull fights. The hero is James Bond-esque, with all the charm and cunning and flair to beat the villains’ murderous attacks while courting the beautiful girl who is forced to accompany him. The mystery of the story is well kept until the later parts. The description of the landscape where all the action takes place is appealing.
Caravan to Vaccares is a nice, fun read if the reader leaves aside logic and practicality, and is ready to indulge in some simple distraction from the routine.
Caravan to Vaccares is a nice, fun read if the reader leaves aside logic and practicality, and is ready to indulge in some simple distraction from the routine.
September 29, 2016
Even when one reads cookbooks that offer a lot of recipes that one cannot or will not eat for whatever reason [1], there are usually at least a few recipes that are of great use, and such is the case here. It is clear that this author, who has written several other books on Italian cooking that she references here (some of which hopefully include the foods that I prefer eating but were not included here [2]) desires to aim at a wide audience of people who enjoy Italian food, or at least what they know of it, may not necessarily be skilled cooks or chefs themselves, and who are not all that knowledgeable about the geography and the rich diversity within Italian culture. Those of us who know our own culture well realize that nations have regions with very distinctive cultures and culinary traditions, and such is the case for the author, who happens to be from the area of Friuli, between Venice and Slavic Istria (part of Slovenia and Croatia). This specific geography has a lot of importance because the author's frame of reference when it comes to Italian food is not the Italian food that most people would be familiar with, but a type of Italian food that has a lot of connection to the area on the north shore of the Adriatic Sea, with its own unique history and traditions.
The 150 recipes of this book are divided into several sections that roughly follow the courses of an Italian meal. With a tolerable amount of overlap between sections, the book opens with appetizers, including a large number of very simple dishes including eggs and olives and cheese and fish. In fact, one thing that could be noted about this book is that relative to the Italian food that most of us are most comfortable eating, these dishes include a lot more seafood--shrimp and anchovies and the like--than most people are used to or wish to eat. If you like the idea of Italian seafood, this book is for you. If that thought leaves you feeling cold like a dead fish, this may not be the book for you. After the discussion of appetizers is a section on salads, some of which sound highly tasty, like the fennel and gargonzola salad or the carrot and apple salad. What can I say? I like salads. After this comes soups, ranging from chicken stock to fava bean soup with dried figs. A short section of sauces follows before the author discusses vegetables and sides, and then moves on to pastas, polenta, and risottos. The author spends more time talking about risottos and the technique for making it than I have ever spent in eating that food, it must be admitted. Two lengthy sections on fish and meat dishes follow (meat here is defined broadly to include chicken, veal, beef, lamb, and a lot of pork). Of particular interest here for me personally was a lemon guinea hen dish which sounds amazing. As I am a fan of eating odd poultry [3], this should not be a surprise. The book closes with a brief discussion of desserts and the fact that Italians do not apparently eat the sort of complex desserts that Americans are most fond of.
What would have made this book better? Speaking as someone of rather picky tastes for reasons of health, allergies, general fussiness, as well as religious prohibitions, I found the foods included here to be mostly of a kind not suited to my own particular palette. That said, even where a food may not meet my own standards for good taste, there is definitely something to be said for seeing how regional cooking of a kind obscure for most readers is interpreted by someone who seeks to balance contemporary tastes in eating with traditional recipes and habits and patterns. This balance is a fascinating one to watch even where one has little interest in partaking. Even so, this particular book manages to provide at least a few dishes that I am willing to happily eat and some that I am even willing to cook, and given that I can hardly be too hard on such a book. It met my expectations, even if I was disappointed that it did not include some of the Italian dishes I am most fond of, which ought to remind me perhaps that the cuisine of Friulia is perhaps not my favorite among the many cuisines of Italy. And that is hardly a bad thing, given that there is so much Italian food that is easy to enjoy.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
[2] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
[3] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
The 150 recipes of this book are divided into several sections that roughly follow the courses of an Italian meal. With a tolerable amount of overlap between sections, the book opens with appetizers, including a large number of very simple dishes including eggs and olives and cheese and fish. In fact, one thing that could be noted about this book is that relative to the Italian food that most of us are most comfortable eating, these dishes include a lot more seafood--shrimp and anchovies and the like--than most people are used to or wish to eat. If you like the idea of Italian seafood, this book is for you. If that thought leaves you feeling cold like a dead fish, this may not be the book for you. After the discussion of appetizers is a section on salads, some of which sound highly tasty, like the fennel and gargonzola salad or the carrot and apple salad. What can I say? I like salads. After this comes soups, ranging from chicken stock to fava bean soup with dried figs. A short section of sauces follows before the author discusses vegetables and sides, and then moves on to pastas, polenta, and risottos. The author spends more time talking about risottos and the technique for making it than I have ever spent in eating that food, it must be admitted. Two lengthy sections on fish and meat dishes follow (meat here is defined broadly to include chicken, veal, beef, lamb, and a lot of pork). Of particular interest here for me personally was a lemon guinea hen dish which sounds amazing. As I am a fan of eating odd poultry [3], this should not be a surprise. The book closes with a brief discussion of desserts and the fact that Italians do not apparently eat the sort of complex desserts that Americans are most fond of.
What would have made this book better? Speaking as someone of rather picky tastes for reasons of health, allergies, general fussiness, as well as religious prohibitions, I found the foods included here to be mostly of a kind not suited to my own particular palette. That said, even where a food may not meet my own standards for good taste, there is definitely something to be said for seeing how regional cooking of a kind obscure for most readers is interpreted by someone who seeks to balance contemporary tastes in eating with traditional recipes and habits and patterns. This balance is a fascinating one to watch even where one has little interest in partaking. Even so, this particular book manages to provide at least a few dishes that I am willing to happily eat and some that I am even willing to cook, and given that I can hardly be too hard on such a book. It met my expectations, even if I was disappointed that it did not include some of the Italian dishes I am most fond of, which ought to remind me perhaps that the cuisine of Friulia is perhaps not my favorite among the many cuisines of Italy. And that is hardly a bad thing, given that there is so much Italian food that is easy to enjoy.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
[2] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
[3] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
December 7, 2018
Halfway through a very guilty pleasure Alistair MacLean re-read, Caravan and Puppet on a Chain both stand out for using foreign cultures as their villain, i.e., gypsies in Caravan and rural Dutch in Puppet. That element, a sort of cultural anxiety, stood out to me, as so far I've found MacLean to be relatively absent the kind of xenophobia found in Ian Fleming (South by Java Head's portrait of the Japanese being an exception). Also standing out in both books is the narrator using brownface as a disguise.
Both Puppet and Caravan use similar set-ups of an investigator and a couple beautiful girls assisting, and I frankly would not have anticipated giving Caravan 3.5 stars except that I blazed through it in a day. Its plot zooms by like a breezy early 1970s movie of the week, but to enjoy it you need to mute any alarms about caricatured gypsies, brownface, and shallow female characters. On the plus side, the usual MacLean self-deprecating narrator fits this story perfectly, and the writing is relatively taut.
Both Puppet and Caravan use similar set-ups of an investigator and a couple beautiful girls assisting, and I frankly would not have anticipated giving Caravan 3.5 stars except that I blazed through it in a day. Its plot zooms by like a breezy early 1970s movie of the week, but to enjoy it you need to mute any alarms about caricatured gypsies, brownface, and shallow female characters. On the plus side, the usual MacLean self-deprecating narrator fits this story perfectly, and the writing is relatively taut.
January 2, 2025
I loved Alistair MacLean's books when I was a kid, but now I find that they're all basically the same -- a British operative outwits a bunch of bad guys and, along the way, nabs a beautiful but easily impressed woman.
July 31, 2012
Unlike most Alistair MacLean novels, Caravan to Vaccares is not a novel based on the World War II. The book first came to print in 1970 and presumably, this story is also set around that time, during the Cold War era.
The story is set at the south eastern province of Provence, in France. It begins with the murder of a gypsy and it was committed by his fellow gypsies. Why? Nobody knows, but it was clear that the gypsies had something to secret which they didn't want to be divulged and presumably, the deceased has come close to the secret. Cecile Dubois and Neil Bowman, British citizens, are also in Provence. Then there is also the Le Grand Duc, at Provence, who supposedly is a gypsy folklorist. Bowman gets curious about what these gypsies are trying to hide. He starts following the gypsy caravans, but little does he realise that he is inviting trouble for himself by doing so and that too, not only for himself, but also for Cecile.
Alistair MacLean hardly reveals the identity of his characters and Caravan to Vaccares is no exception to that. Nobody has any idea on who Le Grand Duc or what he is up to and the case is no different when it comes to Bowman. He describes himself as a “professional idler” and some readers might just try to finish reading the book as soon as possible just to know “who” Bowman is. It is not easy to describe any kind of a fight in words and even if one manages to do so, it might not be effective as the reader might find it difficult to imagine the scenes or comprehend what is happening. So, the author has to be appreciated for describing each duel so extensively, and personally, I had no problem in imagining the fight. That is something which I really liked about the book. A reasonable pace was maintained throughout the novel, which is an important feature of a thriller novel, I believe.
However, on the flip side, I’d say that the plot was dull, and in many cases, the antagonists were being extremely foolish, which isn’t exactly the sign of an “equal contest” between the protagonist and the antagonist. Besides, in some cases, Bowman’s survival was totally unbelievable, a combination of all sorts of luck and coincidences. Some readers may not accept the way in which the author portrayed the gypsies and their culture. Thrillers are mostly seen as a battle between “goodies and baddies” but considering “goodies”, considering Bowman’s character, he certainly isn’t the first person which would come to one’s mind. I was also not satisfied with the character descriptions as there was a high degree of imbalance. Some, like Le Grand Duc and Cecile Dubois were described so well whereas I felt most of the others were ignored, including Bowman. Any kind of digression ruins a thriller novel and the major deviation in this book is the romantic sub-plot featuring Bowman and Cecile. The Times praised Caravan to Vaccares saying “Even more action-packed than its predecessors” but to be honest, it wasn’t all that action packed, in fact, far less action-packed than one of its predecessors which I’ve read, South by Java Head, that is.
The plot was average and there was nothing great about it. In most cases, the protagonist either gets extremely lucky or the antagonists were being very stupid. It did maintain a reasonable level of pace though, which made it readable.
There wasn’t anything special about the language used by the author but the fights were described well and dialogues were well constructed.
I wouldn’t exactly say that it is a good read and I shall recommend it only to MacLean fans or those who are willing to read any kind of thrillers.
The story is set at the south eastern province of Provence, in France. It begins with the murder of a gypsy and it was committed by his fellow gypsies. Why? Nobody knows, but it was clear that the gypsies had something to secret which they didn't want to be divulged and presumably, the deceased has come close to the secret. Cecile Dubois and Neil Bowman, British citizens, are also in Provence. Then there is also the Le Grand Duc, at Provence, who supposedly is a gypsy folklorist. Bowman gets curious about what these gypsies are trying to hide. He starts following the gypsy caravans, but little does he realise that he is inviting trouble for himself by doing so and that too, not only for himself, but also for Cecile.
Alistair MacLean hardly reveals the identity of his characters and Caravan to Vaccares is no exception to that. Nobody has any idea on who Le Grand Duc or what he is up to and the case is no different when it comes to Bowman. He describes himself as a “professional idler” and some readers might just try to finish reading the book as soon as possible just to know “who” Bowman is. It is not easy to describe any kind of a fight in words and even if one manages to do so, it might not be effective as the reader might find it difficult to imagine the scenes or comprehend what is happening. So, the author has to be appreciated for describing each duel so extensively, and personally, I had no problem in imagining the fight. That is something which I really liked about the book. A reasonable pace was maintained throughout the novel, which is an important feature of a thriller novel, I believe.
However, on the flip side, I’d say that the plot was dull, and in many cases, the antagonists were being extremely foolish, which isn’t exactly the sign of an “equal contest” between the protagonist and the antagonist. Besides, in some cases, Bowman’s survival was totally unbelievable, a combination of all sorts of luck and coincidences. Some readers may not accept the way in which the author portrayed the gypsies and their culture. Thrillers are mostly seen as a battle between “goodies and baddies” but considering “goodies”, considering Bowman’s character, he certainly isn’t the first person which would come to one’s mind. I was also not satisfied with the character descriptions as there was a high degree of imbalance. Some, like Le Grand Duc and Cecile Dubois were described so well whereas I felt most of the others were ignored, including Bowman. Any kind of digression ruins a thriller novel and the major deviation in this book is the romantic sub-plot featuring Bowman and Cecile. The Times praised Caravan to Vaccares saying “Even more action-packed than its predecessors” but to be honest, it wasn’t all that action packed, in fact, far less action-packed than one of its predecessors which I’ve read, South by Java Head, that is.
The plot was average and there was nothing great about it. In most cases, the protagonist either gets extremely lucky or the antagonists were being very stupid. It did maintain a reasonable level of pace though, which made it readable.
There wasn’t anything special about the language used by the author but the fights were described well and dialogues were well constructed.
I wouldn’t exactly say that it is a good read and I shall recommend it only to MacLean fans or those who are willing to read any kind of thrillers.
November 9, 2019
Once again I am not disappointed by Alistair MaClean! Amazing story sadly it was too short!
April 23, 2025
J’ai découvert l’existence de cet ouvrage via la page Wikipedia de Baumaniere. Comme nous passons du temps aux Baux et à l’hôtel je me le suis procuré. J’ai aimé le style de l’auteur son humour ses éléments de langage désuets. Mais intrigue parfois obscure. Personnages pas très incarnés. Certaines scènes m’ont fait penser au Tintin de mon enfance.
March 19, 2016
This supple, muscular, hilarious and heart-stopping thriller is my favorite Alistair Maclean. Considering that Maclean's oeuvre consists of the likes of Where Eagles Dare, Guns of Navarone, HMS Ulysses et al, it's saying a lot. And what a riot I had re-reading it after, I think, twenty years. And I was again in thrall of the writer's consummate mastery over language and plot.
I grew up with Alistair Maclean's books and those of Desmond Bagley, Arthur Hailey, Irving Wallace, Harold Robbins - till I discovered the Hardy's, Fitzgerald's, Cronin's, Proust's, Mausappant's and the like. But Alistair Maclean was always a bridge for me - the guilty pleasure, which still enabled pencil markings under consummate writing.
And Caravan to Vacarres is ultra-special - the way Kill Bill will be, however great a film Tarantino might have or might make or Mad Max: Fury Road would be, however incredible all road thrillers might be.
First and foremost the atmospherics of the book. Set in the starkly beautiful and menacing Provence area of France, it evokes the romance and fascination and foreboding related to gypsies. The plot follows them as they travel deep into the region - and all kinds of utterly fascinating encounters take place. Violence is embedded in the story but it is the characterisation of the protagonists and the conversations, which take it to another level. The mordant humor of Neil Bowman, the hero, who calls himself an idle layabout, as he goes about poking his nose into the affairs of the gypsies with some pretty dire consequences, or the ducal snobbery of the regal and rotund Le Grand Duc, whose wealth is only matched by his appetite, will have you chuckling away the night as you simply have to finish this utterly enthralling book in one hungry bite!
The set pieces - the chase into the craggy heights of the Alpilles; the fight inside a caravan as it ends being clinically wrecked into smithereens; the absolutely heart-thudding encounter in the callajon, the bull ring, with an Andalusian monster from Spain, whose horns have been sharpened to make it a killing machine, where our hero has to become a razateur to survive. Oh the riches abound.
The heroes are tough, the girls are pretty and pretty tough themselves, you learn about gypsies and things you shouldn't do with them, and an intimate guide into the must-visit and never-visit areas in Provencal France. What else can a simple pleasure-seeking, lotus-eating reader ever want?
Alistair Maclean 's books always resonate with one dialogue in this book, when Duc is about to walk into a situation he has nothing to do with, in front of his perplexed girl-friend -
"But you can't just barge in -"
"Nonsense. I am the Duc de Croytor. Besides, I never barge. I always make an entrance."
You could say that for all the books of the redoubtable Alistair Maclean.
I grew up with Alistair Maclean's books and those of Desmond Bagley, Arthur Hailey, Irving Wallace, Harold Robbins - till I discovered the Hardy's, Fitzgerald's, Cronin's, Proust's, Mausappant's and the like. But Alistair Maclean was always a bridge for me - the guilty pleasure, which still enabled pencil markings under consummate writing.
And Caravan to Vacarres is ultra-special - the way Kill Bill will be, however great a film Tarantino might have or might make or Mad Max: Fury Road would be, however incredible all road thrillers might be.
First and foremost the atmospherics of the book. Set in the starkly beautiful and menacing Provence area of France, it evokes the romance and fascination and foreboding related to gypsies. The plot follows them as they travel deep into the region - and all kinds of utterly fascinating encounters take place. Violence is embedded in the story but it is the characterisation of the protagonists and the conversations, which take it to another level. The mordant humor of Neil Bowman, the hero, who calls himself an idle layabout, as he goes about poking his nose into the affairs of the gypsies with some pretty dire consequences, or the ducal snobbery of the regal and rotund Le Grand Duc, whose wealth is only matched by his appetite, will have you chuckling away the night as you simply have to finish this utterly enthralling book in one hungry bite!
The set pieces - the chase into the craggy heights of the Alpilles; the fight inside a caravan as it ends being clinically wrecked into smithereens; the absolutely heart-thudding encounter in the callajon, the bull ring, with an Andalusian monster from Spain, whose horns have been sharpened to make it a killing machine, where our hero has to become a razateur to survive. Oh the riches abound.
The heroes are tough, the girls are pretty and pretty tough themselves, you learn about gypsies and things you shouldn't do with them, and an intimate guide into the must-visit and never-visit areas in Provencal France. What else can a simple pleasure-seeking, lotus-eating reader ever want?
Alistair Maclean 's books always resonate with one dialogue in this book, when Duc is about to walk into a situation he has nothing to do with, in front of his perplexed girl-friend -
"But you can't just barge in -"
"Nonsense. I am the Duc de Croytor. Besides, I never barge. I always make an entrance."
You could say that for all the books of the redoubtable Alistair Maclean.
June 13, 2018
When I started re-reading MacLean’s oeuvre, there were fewer than half a dozen titles that I couldn’t remember reading in my teens or early twenties. ‘Caravan to Vaccarès’ was one of them - and what a discovery! MacLean starts the story in media res, the narrative already steaming ahead, and barely slows the pace for 189 pages. The sense of mystery and enigma - you know who the goodies and the baddies are, and you might get a handle on some of the supporting characters - are maintained by the simple literary device of MacLean not telling you exactly what’s going on till page 165. The action and suspense are top-notch, with at least two chapters in their entirety given over to presenting sustained set-pieces. Protagonist Neil Bowman is one of MacLean’s more entertainingly flippant heroes, while his coterie of villains are as hissable as they come. Even the slightly contrived romantic subplot - always MacLean’s weakest trait as a writer - is handled better than in any of his other books.
September 26, 2012
When I was growing up there were a number of books by Desmond Bagley and Alistair McLean on my parent's bookshelf and these formed some of the earliest adult fiction that I read. I thought it would be interesting to revisit these authors, who I haven't read for more than 30 years, to see how the books held up. Caravan to Vacarres is not one I have read before and is certainly not one of McLean's better-known novels. I selected it (in a second hand shop) for the wonderful 1970s style cover. The book has an terribly contrived plot, nothing really hangs together and the characterisation is pretty awful, but it was so wonderfully redolent of the 1970s. The strength is in the action sequences which are very, very well done - not quite as ssuepensful as the depth charge scene in Das Boot, but actually quite compelling. Overall, it was reasonably good fun, no major surprises but because of the excellent action sequences, better than I had expected.
February 20, 2013
I read a lot of McLean's classic novels many years ago but have decided to catch up on those I haven't read yet. This 1970 title is OK and as you would expect its well writen, has a solid plot and builds the tension nicely. That said in 2013 it does feel a little dated in style, compared to say someone like Alan Furst, who writes period, as in pre second world war two that have a timeless feel about them, even though they're written by a contemporary writer. It feels a little out of line to be "criticising" somoeone as memorable as Alistair Mclean but hey, that's my perogative. Actually if I'd written a review of Caravan to Vaccares back in 1970 I am sure I would've been effusive rather than conditional in my approach.
March 18, 2018
This book had good and bad qualities both.
It was moderately fast paced and had a lot of action which makes one keep reading. The plot was also quite good and witty.
The characters, on the other hand, were awful. They were superficial, some were arrogant, some were silly, and almost all of them felt cartoonish. The old fashioned view against women's capabilities were hard to read in some sections.
It was moderately fast paced and had a lot of action which makes one keep reading. The plot was also quite good and witty.
The characters, on the other hand, were awful. They were superficial, some were arrogant, some were silly, and almost all of them felt cartoonish. The old fashioned view against women's capabilities were hard to read in some sections.
September 13, 2018
Sort of the antithesis of Locatelli's "Made in Italy." The recipes are remarkably easy to follow, with uncomplicated instructions and a limited ingredient list for each dish. But maybe the recipes are too easy, and some, after making, made me think, "Well, I can do that again, and I won't even need to see the book." Perhaps that's the point, though. The book is called "Commonsense Italian Cooking."
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