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Desert Island Discs

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Castaway guests share the soundtrack of their lives.

Eight tracks, a book and a luxury: what would you take to a desert island? Guests share the soundtrack of their lives.

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Kirsty Young

Anna Del Conte

Desert Island Discs: Anna Del Conte

19/11/2010

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Anna Del Conte

Italian cookery writer Anna Del Conte joins Kirsty Young to choose her Desert Island Discs

Italian cookery writer Anna Del Conte joins Kirsty Young to choose her Desert Island Discs.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the cookery writer Anna Del Conte. 

Born to a wealthy Milanese family, she arrived in Britain in 1949 where her Italian ingenuity with food was sorely needed in a nation still facing rationing and no olive oil. Her books, starting with Portrait of Pasta in 1976, helped to change all that, and established her as a food hero for younger cooks like Nigella Lawson and Delia Smith. 

She has still more to teach however: whatever you do, she says, you shouldn't serve bolognese with spaghetti as it's just the wrong shape. Tagliatelle is much better. 

Record: Part of the duet from the first act of Otello
Book: The Leopard by Giuseppe Di Lampedusa
Luxury: Extra virgin olive oil.

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