Cinnamon & Salt: Cicchetti in Venice Small Bites from the Lagoon City by Emiko Davies (Hardie Grant, 2022)

In her latest cookbook, Emiko Davies brings the city of Venice to life through her characteristically engaging prose, sumptuous photography and a collection of recipes for cicchetti, the small eats that Venetians enjoy throughout the day. In her foreword to the book, Rosa Salzberg, Associate Professor of Italian Renaissance History at the University of Warwick, writes:

“The tradition of Venetian cicchetti […] is not one made for long, leisurely meals but for a food culture on the move. It is about stopping for a drink, a snack or a small plate at a hole-in-the-wall bar while walking around the city on the way home from work or while shopping for groceries; it's about pausing to meet friends, do business, exchange news.

Over an ombra of wine and a cicchetto, great conversations ensue, whether you are perched on a stool or a canal edge, standing at the bar or walking from one bàcaro to the next. […] Going out for cicchetti is also surprisingly cheap and unpretentious way to eat and drink in a city that can be eye-wateringly expensive.”

And here is Davies on Venice itself:

“It doesn't take long for this city to work its magic on me. Just one look at that long, low horizon shaped by the grey-green Venetian waters as the train pulls in to the island station, Venezia Santa Lucia, and I find myself breathing a sigh. It never gets old: the lagoon, the water-lapped maze of streets and canals, the saltworn, crumbling buildings and campi (squares) hidden away like secret pockets. Whether enshrouded in winter fog with impending high waters or under the warm, beating sun, Venice is truly unforgettable.”