Reviews

Brava Elisabeth! I haven’t seen a book this well researched in a long time! Not only is this cookbook about the delicious food of Friuli but it also encompasses the nature of the people, the geography, and the rich history of a great land. My only quandary...Should I book a flight to Friuli right away or run into the kitchen to cook!
Joanne Weir
Host of public television’s Joanne Weir’s Cooking Class and author of Wine Country Cooking and From Tapas to Meze: Small Plates from the Mediterranean
This is way more than a cookbook—it is a travel book, a history book, and an homage to one of Italy’s least well-known regions. Elisabeth has collected very workable recipes from home cooks in small villages and from beloved local restaurants. You too can capture the flavors of Friuli at home and add some new, delicious dishes to your Italian culinary repertoire.
Joyce Goldstein
Author of Italian Slow and Savory and Enoteca: Simple, Delicious Recipes in the Italian Wine Bar Tradition
Flavors of Friuli, Elisabeth Antoine Crawford, Equilibrio – Friuli, the northeast section of Italy, a land diverse in history, food and ethnicity, is influenced by multiple countries and distinct regions. Friuli is home to a southern coastline, rich in seafood, mountains to the north and hills and plains in its central region. Little known to many, this region of Italy has much to boast about, including its prosciutto and frico. By chance, the author stumbled upon this region while on a business trip and fell in love with the people and their cuisine, which is influenced by Austrian, Slavic and Venetian cultures. She has found a way capture the essence of Friuli through photos, recipes and a delightful account of its history. While I anticipated reading an Italian cookbook, I was happily surprised to be given so much more, from the author. Please do not get me wrong, some of the book’s recipes, which are separated by region, are outstanding, such as Pasta Filled with Dried Fruit and Ricotta, Duck Breasts with Berry Sauce, and Crepes with Apricot Jam. Whether you are interested in exploring a part of Italy off the beaten path or simply wish to find some out of the ordinary Italian recipes, this book is well worth discovering.
Eric Hoffer Award judge
theUSreview.com
Flavors of Friuli is a gem! It is filled with gorgeous photos of the places and the dishes, eighty traditional recipes, that explore the region’s history and intermingling of cultures that contributed to a fusion of taste delights. You can be a tourist without ever leaving home, visiting food festivals, favorite local restaurants, and local sites. More than 450 photographs grace this tour of its wine country and dramatic Adriatic coastline with cities that include Trieste and Udine. There’s just one word for this cookbook, fabulous!
Alan Caruba Bookviews.com, May 1, 2010
It’s no culinary secret that Italy is home to some of the world’s finest cuisine. It is also widely recognized by professional chefs and Italian housewives that there are fundamental distinctions in the cuisines of the various regions that comprise this nation of dedicated food enthusiasts. That’s why Flavors of Friuli: A Culinary Journey through Northeastern Italy by Elisabeth Antoine Crawford (who spent five years researching, traveling, recipe-testing, and photographing this very special and specialized cuisine) is such a joy to browse through and inspiring to prepare memorably authentic dishes with. From Orzotto ai Funghi (Barley with Mushrooms); to Toc de Purcit (Carnian Pork Stew); to Crostata alla Marmellata (Mixed Berry Jam Tart); to Minestra di Bobici (Corn and Bean Soup); to Stinco di Vitello (Braised Veal Shank), Flavors of Friuli truly lives up to its title. Profusely and beautifully illustrated throughout, Flavors of Friuli showcases the history and communities whose culinary heritages are represented, making it an informative pleasure to simply browse through. Simply stated, if a personal or community library’s cookbook acquisition budget is limited, be sure to include adding a copy of Flavors of Friuli to the ethnic and regional cookbook collection – family and patrons alike will truly appreciate it!
Midwest Book Review Small Press Bookwatch, May 2010
In Flavors of Friuli, Elisabeth Antoine Crawford not only provides us delicious recipes from various areas of Friuli, but she provides us with a useful lesson of the history of the area and culture as well. The beautiful photography throughout the book complements the text and makes this one of those cookbooks that you will read from cover to cover. I recommend Flavors of Friuli to anyone who is looking for a beautiful cookbook with authentic recipes from Italy.
Kam Aures
RebeccasReads.com, May 2010
Author Elisabeth Antoine Crawford fell in love with Friuli in northeastern Italy, with its people and their genuine hospitality but especially with its cuisine. She had been drawn to Italy as a child, even before setting foot in the country. Then, over the years, she kept returning to Friuli, sampling its food, collecting cookbooks, interviewing chefs and talking to the people. She admits that, given her love of Italy, her friends were surprised that she was so drawn to Friuli, considered to be the most un-Italian part of the country. She explains that perhaps it was the fusion of many cultures that appealed to her most, with a mixture of Venetian, Austro-Hungarian and Slavic influences that helped to create a distinctive culture and cuisine. Full of mouthwatering recipes (from buckwheat pasta and pasta filled with chocolate and nuts to bean and sauerkraut soup and Hungarian-style beef stew) and color photographs, Crawford’s book also offers portraits of the land and its people, its architecture and its festivals. An interesting detail: Italy’s world-famous coffee company, Illy, was founded in 1933 by Hungarian native Francesco Illy, who went to Trieste during as an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army, stayed and opened a cafe.
June Sawyers Chicago Tribune, July 6, 2010 (reprinted Denver Post, August 15, 2010)
Another compelling culinary read, packaged in cookbook clothing, is Flavors of Friuli: A Culinary Journey through Northeastern Italy (Equilibrio, 978-0-9703716-1-4) by Elisabeth Antoine Crawford, a San Francisco writer and former professional dancer. Friuli-Venezia Giulia cuisine boasts a potpourri of influences including Roman, Venetian, Slavic, and Austro-Hungarian, and even hints of the Far East due to its proximity to trade routes. Flavors of Friuli includes 450 photos, eighty recipes, and wonderful side trips to quaint villages, food festivals, restaurants, cheesemakers, and pasticcerias. Wine lovers entranced by Friuli’s food should seek out the region’s clean, fresh, fruity white wines.
ForeWord Reviews
July/August 2010
Little did I know when I picked up Elisabeth Antoine Crawford’s Flavors of Friuli that I’d be taking a mini-vacation in the middle of my summer break. Crawford’s beautifully photographed book is more than just a guide to cooking in the tradition of northeastern Italy. It’s a history and travel guide for the region. Divided into sections in line with the three main areas of this so-called ‘un-Italian’ portion of Italy, the book offers a wide variety of recipes including hearty meats, delicate fishes, simple gnocchi and indulgent desserts. Each is inspired by the Austrian, Slavic, or Italian influences that make the region unique.

The author’s passion for this special place comes through even in the recipes themselves. Crawford takes instructions from chefs and books she discovered in her travels, sometimes needing to guess measurements and proportions along the way. Her diligence and time in preparing for the book have paid off as her directions are manageable for most home-cooks. The minimal ingredients allow the delicious flavors to stand on their own.
Read Full Review

Kerri Schuster Small Press Reviews, August 15, 2010
The independently-published Flavors of Friuli: A Culinary Journey through Northeastern Italy (Equilibrio, $29.95) is one of those projects I hate to call "a labor of love" because it ends up sounding patronizing, as if the book would have been better if the author cared less about it. No, Flavors of Friuli struck me as both an unlikely and an amazing book, one I came upon by accident while browsing the cookbook section at Frugal Muse in the Northgate Shopping Center. (A place, by the way, where I very often find something quirky and amazing.)

The 2009 title is Crawford’s first cookbook — her previous book was a Pilates handbook. But while traveling in Italy on Pilates business, she discovered the hybrid cuisine of extreme northeastern Italy and became obsessed. In a good way. Friuli, as Crawford notes in the preface, is "one of the country’s most un-Italian regions," with many Austrian and Hungarian culinary influences. Read Full Review

Linda Falkenstein Isthmus, October 13, 2010
In Flavors of Friuli: A Culinary Journey through Northeastern Italy (Equilibrio 2010), Elisabeth Antoine Crawford has compiled 80 of this little region’s traditional recipes including Montasio Cheese Crisps, Cinnamon-Laced Ravioli, and Plum-Filled Gnocchi. Hidden from the tourist mobs in Italy’s northeast corner, Friuli-Venezia Giulia boasts one of the country’s most distinctive regional cuisines. With influences from Austria, Hungary, and Slovenia, the Friulian people cleverly merge humble, local ingredients with exotic spices, resulting in a cuisine that never ceases to delight the palate. With inspiring photography, the book is divided into chapters that take you through the Carnia Mountains in northern Friuli, the hills and plains in central Friuli, and the Adriatic Coast in southern Friuli. Each regional section includes recipes from antipasti to dessert and narrative that guides you through the notable features of the area. If you’re a fan of Friuli, Crawford’s book lets you bring it home and cook it up.
Tastes of Italia Magazine August 2010
One of the things that’s so amazing about Italian cookery is that it really does seem infinitely variable. After all, one would think, how many Italian cookbooks do we actually need in the English language? Yet — with obvious exceptions — we see book after wonderful book that exposes us to a new, lesser explored wrinkle that opens a new culinary journey for non-Italian cooks.

Flavors of Friuli: A Culinary Journey through Northeastern Italy (Equilibrio) is a good example. Because it explores the food of a very specific and off-the-beaten track piece of real estate in Northeastern Italy. From the introduction: "Tucked away between mountains and sea in Italy’s extreme northeast corner, Friuli-Venezia Giulia is a veritable melting pot of cultures. Today, the only clear boundary lines are political: those that separate Italy from the neighboring countries of Austria and Slovenia, those that mark the boundaries between Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Italy’s Veneto region, and those that delineate Friuli’s four provinces: Trieste, Udine, Gorizia, and Pordenone."

As a result, the food of the region reflects just about all of the factors you might expect. Imagine, gnocchi stuffed with prosciutto and cheese, pork stew with pancetta and cinnamon, cheese-filled polenta balls, and hearty bean and vegetable soups remarkable for their use of local ingredients.

Though Flavors of Friuli is definitely a cookbook, as much as that it is a tourbook: a gentle yet thorough introduction to a region not as well known as so many others in this country that has been remarked on for wonderful food for centuries.

Aaron Blanton January Magazine, October 30, 2010
Elisabeth Antoine Crawford, an Athens, Ga., native, recounts her journey through a unique corner of Italy in Flavors of Friuli: A Culinary Journey through Northeastern Italy (Equilibrio, released 2010). Not just another spaghetti book, this colorful travel guide-meets-cookbook delves into Friuli’s traditional dishes like cinnamon-laced ravioli and Montasio cheese crisps. Its 450 photographs explore three of the region’s areas and their respective villages, including their mouthwatering food festivals and local restaurants.
Flavors Magazine
Winter 2010
My wife and I had the privilege of reading an amazing book that showcased the region where my parents were born in Italy – Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The recipes were outstanding and Elisabeth nailed the history and captured the unique culture of the region. The province has an amazing history and my wife and I tried a couple of recipes. The author was so dedicated to this project – she spent over 5 years creating this amazing resource. I found that the book did an amazing job of showcasing all distinct geographical areas – some areas with a greater emphasis on seafood and meat or figs. Finally, one of my all-time favourites of my mom’s is crostata. I would compare it to a shortbread with a nice lattice top and fresh jam on top. We used raspberry jam. Elisabeth has all the recipes in English but has the original name in Italian and provides a brief history for each recipe. This book is a must have for any descendants of this region. We need to keep these recipes going because we will not be able to order polenta or delicious frico or gubana at our local restaurants.
Steven Zussino
Grocery Alerts Canada, March 17, 2011
Flavors of Friuli by Elisabeth Antoine Crawford has received nothing but five-star reviews and I can see why. It is a whole lot more than a cookbook of foods from Northeastern Italy. Ms. Crawford divides the book into the three geographic regions of Friuli: northern (Carnia Mountains), central (Hills and Plains), and southern (Adriatic Coast). Each of those sections is then divided into these recipe sections: antipasti, primi, secondi, contorni, and dolci. Be sure to read the preface of the book to find out why Ms. Crawford chose this region of Italy and just what her experiences were while she was there. It is a very interesting story to read. The book begins with a quick geography “lesson” followed up by some history.

Then Ms. Crawford takes you to each region in Friuli with wonderful descriptions and beautiful photographs. Not knowing Italian, I appreciated the translated names of the recipes which are provided. Each recipe has a paragraph of introduction and interesting facts. The recipes are set up well and easy to understand and follow with each one getting its own page with an accompanying full-page amazing photograph. I own many cookbooks and cooking magazines, but Flavors of Friuli is simply amazing. Anyone interested in travel, Italy, and/or Italian cooking will find this a wonderful addition to their library…and for those wanting to test out these recipes you will be kept busy for a long while. It is very easy to flip through the book and when a food photo catches your attention, choose that recipe to make! It would be a challenge for someone to look through Flavors of Friuli and not find their mouth begin to water. Congratulations, Ms. Crawford, for an excellent job of producing your culinary journey.

Joyce Gilmour Editing TLC
I’ve longed to travel through the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. But the closest I’ve come is wandering through the seductive Flavors of Friuli: A Culinary Journey through Northeastern Italy by Elisabeth Antoine Crawford.

For that day when I do travel to the region, I hope Crawford will have created an app. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to lug her three-pound, 368-page tome with me. It’s an exhaustively researched guide to the mountains, meadows, vineyards, and coasts, all with their own distinctive foods, wines, architecture, museums, attractions, and festivals. Read Full Review

Sharon Sanders Simple Italy
Flavors of Friuli is so much more than a cookbook. It’s also a gorgeous travel book that takes you through the Friuli region in Northeastern Italy. The Friuli region is located between mountains and sea in Italy’s extreme northeast corner. There are three distinct geographical regions: Northern Mountains, Central Hills and Plains, and Southern Coastline.

The Introduction gives a short history of Friuli and its various geographic regions and includes the most spectacular pictures of churches, ruins, castles and scenery. Each section of Friuli is discussed in depth from its weather to its geography to the foods it is most known for. I just cannot describe how gorgeous the many color photographs are in this book. There are literally photos on almost every page!

The recipe section is broken down into Northern Friuli, Central Friuli, and Southern Friuli. Each region of Friuli is broken down into recipes for Antipasti, Primi (first course), Secondi (main dishes), Contorni (side dishes), and Dolci (desserts). Each recipe section has pages full of scenic attractions, festivals, and sights along with tons of photographs and information. The recipes themselves have a brief introduction or history, an ingredients list and detailed instructions along with gorgeous color photographs. The recipes are rather in-depth although there are quite a few simple ones as well. Being Italian, some of them require the use of a pasta maker to make your own dough for pasta.

This is a truly spectacular cookbook with recipes and photographs that will really make you feel like you stepped into the Friuli region in northern Italy. I cannot wait to try the Torta di Mele, which is a rustic apple cake from Northern Friuli!

Ellen Christian
Confessions of an Overworked Mom