Correspondence on Culinary Arts and Culture. A cookery book for the stomach and the mind: Alice Vollenweider, connoisseur of Italian cuisine and culture, literary critic and author of many cookbooks, and Hugo Loetscher, the cosmopolitan, well-travelled Swiss author intimately acquainted with cuisines from all over the world, exchange letters full of recipes, reflections, teasing, culinary bon mots and mutual admiration. Their letters are like a condensed cultural history of the kitchen. The reader finds out about the origins of well-known and less well-known dishes and modern-day cookery, about the authors' own approach to food – and about practical details too, like how to make the perfect risotto.