"The Talisman of Happiness" Has Been Translated Into English

You’re probably not familiar with Ada Boni. I admit that I wasn’t until I heard about the English translation of her famous cookbook, Il Talismano della Felicità, last fall. But after receiving the 900-page tome, filled with 1,680 recipes, I quickly became obsessed with her practical instruction and attention to detail. The main takeaway: Boni is a bonafide legend.

Boni was born in Rome in 1881. At the time, the city was just named the capital of the country, and Italy’s 20 regions were formally unified only 20 years prior. If you’ve traveled around Italy, you know that each region has its own distinct cuisine. But back then, Italy was just beginning to form a unified culinary identity. Boni was pivotal in bringing those traditions and recipes to people from all over the country, first with a magazine dedicated to home economics, Preziosa, that she launched with her husband, Enrico Boni.

In each monthly edition of Preziosa, Boni printed recipes from all over Italy. Eventually she amassed so many, she published the first edition of Il Talismano della Felicità, or The Talisman of Happiness, containing 882 dishes. It became an instant classic. “As a young girl in Italy, I recall how young brides looked forward to receiving this cookbook,” writes chef Lidia Bastianich in the book’s forward. Chef Marcella Hazan credits The Talisman for teaching her how to cook, and she used it as a resource to recreate the flavors and dishes of her homeland after moving to the United States.

Someone attempted to translate The Talisman of Happiness into English in the 1950s, but it was considered a blunder and has since been discarded. But when publisher Michael Szczerban got wind of the book in 2013, it’s been his quest to bring it stateside ever since.

“I first heard Ada’s name in a conversation with Samin Nosrat when we were working on her book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat,” Szczerban says. “The beauty of the title spoke to me and made me want to learn more. For me, recipes are indeed talismans of happiness — pathways to small joys and simple pleasures. At first, I just wanted to own a copy. But the more I dug into the book and how groundbreaking yet forgotten Ada Boni was, the more I felt I had to bring her whole masterwork to other readers in America.”

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I own a lot of cookbooks. Some are complicated, each dish containing two or more subrecipes. Others are simpler, containing recipes that don’t need a lot of time or ingredients to get right. Although I love a project, I tend to come back to the tried and true recipes of the latter time and again. A simple, straightforward way of cooking was something Boni believed in, too.

“Ada was a dogged tester of her recipes, testing them over and over until they were perfected,” Szczerban says. “But unlike many cookbooks of today, it doesn’t get bogged down in the details. Ada gives you enough instruction to make the dish successfully, but not so much prescription that you can’t make it your own.”

For example, in the recipe for Ragù alla Bolognese, Boni instructs to finish the sauce with “half a glass of cream.” This leaves the quantity up to the cook. “Note that while ‘half a glass’ may sound as specific as ‘1/2 cup,’ a glass is a measurement used when the exact quantity is not that important,” which is written in the “Notes for Cooks” section of The Talisman. “There is no standard conversion for its volume, but you would do well to think of a small wine or water glass, and cook from the heart — ‘a sentimento’ as some Italians would say.”

With more than 1,500 recipes to choose from, it can be hard to pick a favorite. But the one Szczerban loves the most brings to mind the warming, simple dishes of my own nonna’s kitchen.

“My favorite recipe might be Ada’s Zuppa Acquacotta,” he says. “I think of it as an Italian stone soup, a way to make something delicious out of what you have on hand. It translates as ‘cooked water soup,’ and while it’s endlessly variable, Ada’s version is very simple, starting with onions, tomatoes and a handful of mint. Simmered together and served with crusty bread and butter or a poached egg, it is immensely satisfying, yet it couldn’t be simpler.”

Zuppa Acquacotta

Ingredients

2.25 lbs. tomatoes4 onionsWild mint leavesOlive oilBread slicesGrated parmesanSalt Pepper

Directions

Peel and seed the tomatoes and put them on to sauté with very little water until they thicken a little. At this point, add the thinly sliced onions, the mint and a little salt and cook for 30 minutes.

While the sauce is cooking, take some bread and cut it into slices and distribute among bowls. Pour 1 Tbsp. of oil into each bowl and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.

When the tomato sauce is ready and piping hot, pour it into the bowls and sprinkle over some grated Parmesan.

Meet your guide

Amanda Gabriele

Amanda is InsideHook’s Senior Editor and has been writing about food, drinks, travel and style for 16 years. She’s written for Travel + Leisure, Eater, Gear Patrol and New York Magazine among other outlets.