Amarcord

Probably only foodies will enjoy Amarcord, the crabby memoir by iconic cooking teacher and author Marcella Hazan. Anyone who has tried reading between the lines of Hazan’s imperious, intelligent cookbooks to? figure out what she’s really like will get their answer: She is an imperious, intelligent woman who can also be startlingly petty. Marcella didn’t know how to fry a meatball when she married Victor Hazan, a young Italian-?American who expected a hot midday meal from his bride. So Marcella taught herself how to make everything from ravioli to gelato,? and eventually instructed thousands of others as well. There are some evocative scenes from her childhood here, and fond accounts of friendships with Danny Kaye and Vincent Price. But there’s also a lot of score-settling that ?is not only unbecoming in a woman of Hazan’s stature, but uninteresting to most readers. B