Chef Lust (Pass the Polenta) chronicles her culinary journey across three regions of Italy—the Piedmont in the northwest, from where her maternal grandparents hail; the Maremma in southern Tuscany; and Le Marche in central Italy—in this inviting collection of essays.

After a trip to Italy to visit extended family in the Piedmont, she decided that she wanted “to explore [the] connection to my mother’s cooking, wanted to trace the origins of the dishes my grandmother used to make, wanted to expand my repertoire.”