Claudia Roden was born and brought up in Cairo. She went to school in Paris and studied art in London where she has lived ever since. Widely admired as both a great cook and a fine writer, she has written classic works on Middle Eastern food and Mediterranean cookery, including The Food of Italy, The Food of Spain, and the award-winning The Book of Jewish Food.

"Timeless... Completely approachable for home cooks" Daily Telegraph "So much more than a catch-all Italian cookbook. Claudia's writing puts the romance back into ubiquitous dishes such as panzanella and bolognese, and gives context to classic flavour combinations and techniques we take for granted... It's time to fall back in love with Italian mama food, guided by the mama of cookery writing and food anthropology" -- Eve O'Sullivan Guardian "Claudia's erudite style remains as compelling as ever" Waitrose Kitchen "The writing is peerless, the recipes as meticulous as you would expect from perhaps the planet's finest food writer" Observer "'My favourite cookbook is Claudia Roden's Food of Italy. Her writing is wonderful and she is incredibly thorough. I love this book in particular.'" Russell Norman, Polpo

Claudia Roden was born and brought up in Cairo. She went to school in Paris and studied art in London where she has lived ever since. Widely admired as both a great cook and a fine writer, she has written classic works on Middle Eastern food and Mediterranean cookery, including The Food of Italy, The Food of Spain, and the award-winning The Book of Jewish Food.

"Timeless... Completely approachable for home cooks" Daily Telegraph "So much more than a catch-all Italian cookbook. Claudia's writing puts the romance back into ubiquitous dishes such as panzanella and bolognese, and gives context to classic flavour combinations and techniques we take for granted... It's time to fall back in love with Italian mama food, guided by the mama of cookery writing and food anthropology" -- Eve O'Sullivan Guardian "Claudia's erudite style remains as compelling as ever" Waitrose Kitchen "The writing is peerless, the recipes as meticulous as you would expect from perhaps the planet's finest food writer" Observer "'My favourite cookbook is Claudia Roden's Food of Italy. Her writing is wonderful and she is incredibly thorough. I love this book in particular.'" Russell Norman, Polpo

Claudia Roden was born and brought up in Cairo. She went to school in Paris and studied art in London where she has lived ever since. Widely admired as both a great cook and a fine writer, she has written classic works on Middle Eastern food and Mediterranean cookery, including The Food of Italy, The Food of Spain, and the award-winning The Book of Jewish Food.

"Timeless... Completely approachable for home cooks" Daily Telegraph "So much more than a catch-all Italian cookbook. Claudia's writing puts the romance back into ubiquitous dishes such as panzanella and bolognese, and gives context to classic flavour combinations and techniques we take for granted... It's time to fall back in love with Italian mama food, guided by the mama of cookery writing and food anthropology" -- Eve O'Sullivan Guardian "Claudia's erudite style remains as compelling as ever" Waitrose Kitchen "The writing is peerless, the recipes as meticulous as you would expect from perhaps the planet's finest food writer" Observer "'My favourite cookbook is Claudia Roden's Food of Italy. Her writing is wonderful and she is incredibly thorough. I love this book in particular.'" Russell Norman, Polpo