The four places calories hide in Italian cooking
21 August 2026
Italian food has a reputation problem aimed mostly at the wrong ingredients. Here is where the weight actually sits, with the figures.
Notes from the kitchen
Writing
What came out of building the books. Mostly things that surprised me, and the working behind the numbers.
Some dishes cannot be lightened, and saying so is the whole point
21 August 2026
Every dish drafted for Authentic-ish Italian was costed against a database. The ones that failed are printed in the book, because a claim that some fail is worth nothing without the failures.
How every number in these books is computed
21 August 2026
No estimated calories. Every figure comes from the recipe ingredient list matched against USDA FoodData Central and McCance and Widdowson, and the book prints the row used.