As one might imagine, Italy factors heavily into “Taste: My Life Through Food,” Stanley Tucci’s third book, which was released this month and chronicles his Italian American upbringing and culinary travels.

Yet, as The New York Times points out, he finds tastes of Italy throughout the world: in Vancouver, where an Italian restaurant becomes his home away from home; in Egilsstadir, Iceland, where he’s lamb-struck; in London, where he and his wife-to-be, Felicity Blunt, pluck the feathers from two dead pheasants from a local restaurateur, lending new definition to the phrase “lovebirds.”

There’s even a great anecdote from France, where he and Meryl Streep attempt to enjoy a meal at a local restaurant while promoting their film “Julia & Julia.”

They ordered the “andouillette,” assuming it meant several little andouille sausages; however, they were greeted with one giant sausage of pig intestine.

Streep took one small bite, and proclaimed “it does have a bit of the barnyard about it.”

Tucci also touches on his brutal fight with tongue cancer, when he underwent radiation therapy in 2017 that erased his sense of taste, and his appetite (he ate through a feeding tube in his stomach for almost six months).

But the good news is, he made a full recovery and is in the process of shooting the second season of the CNN hit show “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy.” He was recently spotted shooting in Venice; however, a release date has yet to be announced for season 2.

The book is worth the read, as he recounts time spent with southern Italian relatives, and discusses a recipe near and dear to Italian American hearts: zeppole.

Click here to pick up a copy.

Join us and become a member of Italian Sons and Daughters of America today.