The Milk of Almonds - by Edvige Guinta (Paperback)

About the Book

A "heart-wrenching, beautiful" and edgy collection that gives voice to the true experience of Italian American women. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Book Synopsis

"A vast, thoroughly wonderful assortment of poetry, memoirs and stories . . . that defines today's female Italian-American experience" (Publishers Weekly).

Often stereotyped as nurturing others through food, Italian-American women have often struggled against this simplistic image to express the realities of their lives.

In this unique collection, over 50 Italian-American female writers speak in voices that are loud, boisterous, sweet, savvy, and often subversively funny. Drawing on personal and cultural memories rooted in experiences of food, they dissolve conventional images, replacing them with a sumptuous, communal feast of poetry, stories, and memoir.

This collection also delves into unexpected, sometimes shocking terrain as these courageous authors bear witness to aspects of the Italian American experience that normally go unspoken-mental illness, family violence, incest, drug addiction, AIDS, and environmental degradation.

As provocative as it is appetizing, "this collection of verse and prose pieces . . . reveals the evocative and provocative power of food as event and as symbol, as well as the diversity of these women's lives and their ambivalence regarding the role of nurturer" (Library Journal).

Review Quotes

Praise for Milk of Almonds
"The pieces in this impressive anthology are, with varying degrees, gentle and piercing. Some are best read alone over a cup of steaming cappuccino, while others pack more of a punch when read out loud to sisters or girlfriends. Editors DeSalvo and Giunta have collected a vast, thoroughly wonderful assortment . . . that defines today's female Italian-American experience." -Publishers Weekly

"What a powerful chorus of voices, breaking silence while breaking bread. Fully orchestrated in poetry and prose, these voices sometimes acclaim and sometimes defy the culture they share as Italian American women--who write, and write brilliantly. If food is their medium, power is their message, the power of words and images to evoke the dislocations and contradictions of the harsh, sensuous, soothing, disturbing world embodied in cultural foods." --Betty Fussell, author of My Kitchen Wars

"The Milk of Almonds provides a rich repast indeed. Whether sampled in small bites or in the entire multi-faceted banquet that is the complete work, this collection, like a deeply satisfying meal, is something to savor." --Jessica B. Harris, author of The Africa Cookbook

"Fed by anger, fed by love, fed by hunger: writing about food inevitably reveals our dreams, resentments, and longings. The Milk of Almonds will unsettle readers who think they know Italian American women. Its poets, storytellers, and memoirists demonstrate just how good food is for thought." --Donna Gabaccia, author of We Are What We Eat: Ethnic Food and the Making of Americans