Stanley Tucci is an actor of international regard, noted for his many movies as an actor and director. Latterly he has also been celebrated for his CNN television programme where he celebrates his love of Italy and the hidden complexity of Italian cookery (‘Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy’).
This passion is also brought out in Tucci’s latest book – Taste – which has recently been issued in paperback. To celebrate this release, Tucci appeared on stage at the Barbican, London during September 2022, to talk about his life and passion for food together with his illustrious acting career.
The first part of the show consisted of Tucci answering questions from host Edith Bowman. The second half saw the distinguished actors fielding questions, whilst sipping a cocktail, from the audience.
Tucci came across as a genial, honest, open and humous person. Probed on a couple of occasions to ‘spill the beans’ on the nastier side of Hollywood and movie business, he declined.
That said, Tucci was happy to discuss what it was like working on set with Meryl Streep (for Julie & Julia), where he described a rehearsal that involved the two of them cooking a complex meal together in order to get into character.
Tucci also spoke in depth about food and life, in a set filled with anecdotes about growing up in Westchester, New York and his film career, including
Tucci also regilded his most successful directorial effort and the process involved in creating the creating the famous timpano in the movie Big Night (1996). His stories from the film world extended to his latest movie, I Wanna Dance with Somebody – the biographical musical drama film based on the life of pop icon Whitney Houston.
While acting is obviously important, Tucci was more concerned with celebrating his love of food and cooking, coupled with his interest in acting – either on stage or in the movies.
The focus with food was orientated towards Italian cooking, as an ‘Italian-American’ Tucci was brought up on the art of taking several simple ingredients and combining these into ways that create wonderous tasting foods.
At one stage, in answering a question from the audience, Tucci was asked what advice he would give to a young person embarking out onto the world. His answer was based on tomatoes, pasta, olive oil, and seasoning. Simple, yet effective to sustain – although Tucci did warn that this form of cooking can lead to a production of ‘gas’ (much to the amusement of audience).
As well as food, Tucci is also an aficionado for the cocktail and especially the Negroni, which he demonstrated on a wildly popular Instagram feed. For the uninitiated, a Negroni is an Italian cocktail made of one part gin, one part vermouth rosso and one part Campari, garnished with orange peel. It was named after the Italian Count Camillo Negroni in 1919.
Tucci’s book is well worth reading and his latest series on the reginal diversity of Italian food makes for delightful television watching.
