Mamma, Let's Cook!

Have you ever thought of enlisting the aid of your children in the kitchen? If suitably stimulated, even the youngest children can help mom and dad prepare simple and tasty recipes! Maria Castellano will take you by the hand to accompany adults and children alike on a journey to discover Italy's unique recipes. Pasta, pizzas, fruit, vegetables, meat and fish: only the best of Italian cookery, in many delicious recipes! Their glories are magnified by the photographs by Stefano Scata and the illustrations by Monica Parussolo.

All the dishes have been tested for children, whose palates have been considered in selecting the most natural ingredients, in the conviction that Italian cuisine is a lifestyle to be cultivated from childhood. Most of the recipes can be made together with children, who will not only enjoy crushing, mixing, and tasting, but will also learn how to measure ingredients, coordinate the various stages, and improve their reading, concentration, and memory skills. They will learn to become familiar with kitchen utensils (and use them safely), basic techniques, and cooking times. Eating dishes that they have prepared themselves will boost their self-confidence, gratify their palates, and make them respect the fundamental value of food in the life of every man and woman.

Swiss born (1969), Milanese by adoption, and Roman at heart, Maria Castellano is a freelance who works with leading Italian chefs and teaches in prestigious cookery schools. These include Aurelio Carraffa's Mediterraneum and Eataly in Rome; Gli Amici di Babette in Bolognia, where she teaches bread- and pastry-making; Eataly in Turin; the Gambero Rosso schools in Rome; and recently also the cookery school heald aboard the MSC cruise ships and sponsored by Gente magazine. Her first book, Pane & Co. was published in 2010 by Bibliotheca Culinaria.

Born in Pordenone in 1956, following an arts degree from Bologna University, Stefano Scata became a photographer in 1984 and has worked for the leading Italian and international magazines. He specializes in travel photojournalism, paying particular attention to lifestyle. A great food lover, he soon came into contact with the world of food and everything in its orbit. The resulting books, in which the eye of the camera captures the soul of its subject with great simplicity, are characterized by great enthusiasm and freshness.

Born in Treviso (1984), Monica Parussolo studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, specializing in the teaching of art. She studied comic strips and illustration in Bologna and Samede, while becoming an expert in the work of Bruno Munari. She expresses herself principally with the forms and materials typical of childhood: stamps, colored and crumpled paper, textures, rubbings, colored masks, and small, everyday objects, giving her images that astonished quality that characterizes the world of each child.