Emotionally resonant, wickedly candid, and warm-hearted, Once Upon a Tuscan Table is a savory stew of tantalizing recipes, memorable characters, and lively anecdotes. As Canadian-born Sharon Oddson Gargani recounts her life, in good times and bad, food is always in the foreground--from Grandma Gerda's roast stuffed goose at Christmas to the signature dishes of her internationally renowned Florentine restaurant and cooking school.

In a narrative worthy of comic opera, we follow the travails and triumphs of Sharon and husband Giuliano, as Trattoria Garga evolves from a tiny hole-in-the-wall to a favored haunt of glitterati set in a fourteenth-century palazzo. Over the years, accolades from Gourmet and other international magazines (including GQ's coveted Golden Dish Award and Bon Appetit's "Best Class in a Restaurant" in Florence) have come in quick succession.

The author penetrates deep into the complex world of the fascinating Gargani family--ruled by its matriarch, the inimitable Zoe--whose immense vitality goes hand in hand with medieval mysticism and Old World superstition. Once Upon a Tuscan Table is a touching love story, a thrilling travel narrative, a boisterously amusing coming-of-age chronicle, and, of course, a fabulous cookbook, in which every recipe is a gem.