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exploring taste – Spring/Summer 2016 people – Classic Tucci

he Tucci family’s love for food and wine has always both wrote and directed] is often described by critics as the best
informed Stanley’s perspective on both his personal movie ever made about food and running a restaurant, was the
T and professional life. He hosted a television series film inspired by your own family?
called Vine Talk, which he developed with long-time actor
friend Steve Buscemi, and has also published two cookbooks. It always seemed to me that running a restaurant is kind
The Tucci Cookbook, published in 2012, combines Northern of accidentally poetic. I don’t have a brother or anyone in
and Southern Italian dishes from both sides of his family, my family who worked in the restaurant business, but that
and includes wine pairings as well as interesting variations on idea of expressing love through food has been and is an
classic Italian cucina. important one in my life.
In 2009 Tucci’s first wife Kate, with whom he has three My whole life was about food. My parents were incredible
children, died tragically of breast cancer. In July, 2010, while cooks. My grandmother, and my mother, used to make these
attending good friend and Devil Wears Prada co-star Emily little potato croquettes. A little potato and maybe some
Blunt’s wedding to John Krasinski at George Clooney’s villa breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic, and onion: absolutely delicious, “Food is comfort and
in Lake Como, Italy, he met her sister, Felicity Blunt. The pair and delicate. My mother also made paella, and to this day, it’s
were married in 2012 and their shared love of gastronomy the best paella I’ve ever had. Amazing.
resulted in the publication of the cookbook, The Tucci Table, in
2014. They also welcomed the birth of their first son, Matteo, in You insist that you are not a ‘wine expert’, but in 2011 you it’s meant to be shared
January, 2015. hosted the PBS show Vine Talk, [the program saw Tucci
There’s something to his precise manner and underlying assemble a motley crew of his fellow Hollywood wine lovers to
sensitivity that has endeared us to his work over the course of gather around a table and philosophise about wine, food, and
a stellar movie career. Some of his most notable films include the art of living] surely that makes you more than simply an with other people.
The Terminal, The Devil Wears Prada, Margin Call, the Lovely amateur oenophile?
Bones, for which he received a best supporting actor Oscar
nomination, as well as the 2016 Best Picture winner Spotlight. The series was not necessarily about expertise but more about You remember food and
sharing my love of wine with an audience. Just about anyone
Your family has always had a strong association with wine, can can come together, enjoy almost any type of wine, and engage
you tell us more about that? in compelling conversation – and even pick up good basic
wine education in the process. Like the different wine making wine throughout time
My father had a great wine press in his basement and he had two methods and the main characteristics of wine aging.
big old oak barrels and would make wine every year. We would
drink it out of little juice glasses and he would always put the Your family originates from Calabria, tell us about your favorite
wine in a bottle that must have dated back to the 1920s and he Italian wines? because of the people
would use it over and over again and put it on the dinner table.
I love Super Tuscans and wines from Sardinia. Generally, it’s not
You talk often about the incredible family gatherings you all about fine wines, you usually can’t go wrong with Chianti,
experienced as a child, how do you evoke those feelings as and I enjoy California Chardonnays and French Burgundies. you were with.”
an adult?
You credit your grandmother, Concetta Tropiano, for your
I grew up in a culture where eating was a family event and dinner cooking skills and have preserved her legacy in your cookbooks.
was an especially important daily event. The dinner table was What are your favorite dishes?
a place where people could relax and talk about what’s on their
mind and everyone could share all the good or interesting I love to experiment with wine pairings to go along with my
things that happened to them on that day... Every time I open favorite Italian rustic dishes; like branzino sea bass roasted
a bottle of wine and prepare a meal, I’m often overcome by the with thyme, garlic and rosemary, rabbit stuffed with fennel,
spirit of all those extraordinary family dinners. prosciutto and salami, or uova fra diavolo (eggs poached in
marinara sauce) which my father used to make every Friday
Your 1996 film Big Night, [about two Italian brothers (played night for dinner. It’s one of those grand simple dishes you
by Tucci and Tony Shalhoub) running a restaurant which Tucci can enjoy equally as breakfast, lunch, or dinner. My favorite

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