Home / Lifestyle / Italian Cookbook's Secret: A 12-Year Quest for Happiness
Italian Cookbook's Secret: A 12-Year Quest for Happiness
9 Dec, 2025
Summary
- Ada Boni's 1929 cookbook, 'The Talisman of Happiness,' is now in English.
- Publisher Michael Szczerban spent over a decade to secure translation rights.
- The book contains nearly 1,700 recipes, valuing simplicity and home cooking.
Ada Boni's seminal 1929 Italian cookbook, "The Talisman of Happiness," has been translated into its first complete English edition, a feat that took publisher Michael Szczerban over a decade. The book, first published in Italy and predating "The Joy of Cooking," offers nearly 1,700 recipes, codifying the backbone of Italian cuisine with a focus on regional differences and home cooking simplicity.
Szczerban's pursuit began after hearing about the book from Samin Nosrat, leading him on a lengthy quest involving extensive research and building trust with the Italian publisher and Boni's family. He sought to preserve the original "beast" of the cookbook, using the 1959 Italian edition as a model and engaging eight translators to ensure authenticity. The goal was to keep Boni's vision intact, allowing home cooks to adapt recipes to their own style.
