William Black is serious about Italian food. Except when he's joking that is, which is quite often. He will stop at nothing to find out the whys and the wherefores of la dolce vita. In Al Dente, our intrepid gastronome eats whatever gets in his way - expounding the joys of everything from maggot-infested cheese (it's delicious, honest) to pasta with donkey sauce (ditto). William travels the length and breadth of Italy in his quest for the most delicious and authentic cooking and the very finest ingredients - eating great agnolotti in Turin, chasing after rabbits in Ischia and viewing the mattanza, the annual tuna catch, off Sicily far to the south. One minute he's scoffing eel brodetto, the next he's waxing lyrical about frog risotto. Though William usually prefers roadside caffes and local trattorie to high-end cibo nuovo, whatever he's eating is a revelation. This is a must for everyone who thinks they know about Italian food and its country of origin. A joy from cover to cover and 100% mierda di bufala-free, Al Dente is so good you might even forget to eat.