Comfort food
Mathures Paul meets Antonio Carluccio, the Godfather of Italian Gastronomy The large-screen television hanging from the restaurant wall was airing news about Left Front’s withdrawal of support while speakers connected to a stereo system played a series of background scores from Hollywood classics. Antonio Carluccio was unmoved, a Marlboro dangling from his lips, sitting at the head of a table that could sit a large Italian family. Carluccio spoke haltingly, without batting an eyelid, providing his audience tales that would be cherished. “There was a little boy who decided to write a letter containing his Christmas list to Little Jesus, rather than Santa. He wrote he would be a good boy for a month if he gave him certain gifts. On reading the letter again, he reduced the month to a week. Next he looked at a statue of Madonna and rewrote the letter... ‘Give me what I want or you would not see your mother’!” This is one of the many jokes Carluccio shared over dinner at Park Hotel. But who...