APERTIVO:
Appetizers are meant to be light. Stanley Tucci’s culinary memoir, “Taste — My Life Through Food,” begins with an airy description of growing up in northern Westchester County, N.Y., in the 1960s. His competent, caring parents worked full time jobs. Both their ancestral families were immigrants from Calabria in southern Italy.

Despite working long hours, Tucci’s mother always provided interesting, multi-course Italian dinners for the family. Young Stanley, first observed, then assisted in the preparation of these meals. Having little interest in sports, the adolescent Tucci became a “foodie,” watching cooking shows, including “The French Chef” with Julia Child.