Serendipity A history of accidental culinary discoveries

The founder of high-end food chain Eataly, Farinetti (How To Eataly) interviews renowned chefs, producers, and purveyors of beloved food and drinks about the accidental moments throughout history that led to culinary discoveries. Farinetti's native Italy offers a wealth of topics from anchovies to balsamic vinegar to wines and traditional dishes and desserts, but there are also background stories about brownies, Caesar salad, Coca-Cola, coffee, and more. It turns out that shipwrecks, mistakes, forgotten barrels, and sheer necessity often led to delicious results, but caffeinated goats and Napoleon's edicts may have also played a part. A handful of recipes are provided, including some for brownies, crêpes Suzette, tarte tatin, and risotto. Farinetti also touches on the importance of sustainability and ends on a philosophical note discussing the serendipity of humankind itself. VERDICT These short, casual interviews about serendipitous food discoveries mix fact and lore to provide an entertaining collection that food connoisseurs will enjoy. With no sources included beyond the experts being interviewed, this reads more like an oral history, lovingly preserved in book form.--Melissa DeWild

SERENDIPITY The beauty of making mistakes   We make a lot of mistakes, and often we take the wrong path. Some­times we're looking for something we've lost and instead we find something else we were searching for. It happens because we're imper­fect. But that's not a bad thing. Anyway, there's no such thing as perfection. And if there were it would be boring and there'd be no incentive to grow. Imperfection spurs us on to become better; to become better we have to put in the hard yards, and make mistakes along the way. Then there are accidents, events outside our control that we have to live with and adjust to, pos­sibly taking us in a new direction. Sometimes things happen that actually change the course of history. Think of the meteorite that shattered near Yucatán in Mexico sixty-six million years ago. Basically it caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. If that meteorite hadn't smashed into Earth, we human beings probably wouldn't exist. Or at least we wouldn't be who we are today. In short, for about three and a half billion years--ever since life first appeared on Earth--a vast number of accidents, mistakes and adapta­tions have led to the result we have today. We humans are the product of a series of imperfections that have had some degree of success you might say, considering that of all the living beings we're the ones who have taken charge of the planet. At least that's how it looks to us. We got to this point thanks to our inventions--a multitude of discoveries, from fire right up to the internet. In order to invent you need to do research. Sometimes you set off in the right direction and get where you wanted to go, or you happen to take the wrong path and you fail. But there are times when you take a particular direction to reach a given goal and stumble on another one you weren't expecting. Which might be even better. Spectacular exam­ples include Christopher Columbus, who went looking for the Indies and discovered America. Penicillin and X-rays were both created by mis­take, as were the microwave oven, cellophane, Teflon, dynamite and Post-it Notes. In 1754, Horace Walpole coined the word "serendipity" to describe a discovery you make by accident when you were looking for something else. His inspiration was an old Persian fable about three princes, the sons of King Giaffer of Serendip (modern-day Sri Lanka). The princes travelled the world, continually (and always accidentally) discovering things they weren't looking for. But the word "serendipity" is not just used for inventions. There's serendipity in love (you miss your train, get the next one and find the person of your dreams), in literature ("Serendipity is common when you're writing a poem: you're aiming to conquer the Indies and you get to America," wrote Andrea Zanzotti), and in film (think Sliding Doors ). In this book I tell the great serendipitous stories relating to my area of profession: food. I've been involved with food and wine as a profes­sional for nearly twenty years, but as an amateur for more than double that. In studying the history of various foods, I've come across some amaz­ing cases of serendipity. A good many of the stories I tell in this book are conventional, in the sense that they're about hugely successful and well-known dishes or drinks, like Coca-Cola and gorgonzola. Others are about great things that have come from trying to fix a mistake, an oversight or an accident, for example panettone, Russian salad, and Guinness. Others are about dishes, ingredients or drinks worth including just because their origins are so bizarre, including chili, Barolo, and Milanese risotto. While I was writing these stories it occurred to me there's an "absolute" serendipity, the most important of all--humankind--and so, with the help of a scholar, I have included that story too. In order to tell these stories, I had a conversation with people who know a lot more than I do about the inventions in question. Produc­ers, bon vivants, cooks, pastry chefs, artists, scientists--a varied slice of humanity I think provides crucial added value to this book. A book by someone who meets people with more talent than himself every day, and would like to pass on what he's learnt. I hope you enjoy the read. PS: A suggestion for all of you who enjoy good food and drink: as you're reading, I recommend sampling the product that's the subject of the chapter. Our enjoyment is doubled when we know more about what we're tasting. I've done this experiment with friends and trust me, it works! Excerpted from Serendipity: A History of Accidental Culinary Discoveries by Oscar Farinetti All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.