VENICE-O-METER 7
Graphic novel based on a true, if unlikely 15th century story of survival, gastronomy and Venetian business acumen
It’s a story straight out of a Hollywood survival movie. In 1431, the ship captained by Venetian aristocrat Pietro Querini, is caught in a merciless storm on its way to Flanders. The 11 surviving men — out of a 68-strong crew — make their way to an island near Røst, in Norway, where local fishermen give them shelter. That is where the Venetians discover stockfish (salted cod).
Querini and what was left of his crew finally made it back to Venice in 1432, introducing stockfish to their native land. It became a staple of the cuisine considered typical of the Veneto region.
In a way that feels rather perfunctory, Paolo Cossi intertwines this story and that of a young couple of young tourists, making their way through current-day Venice with a local.
Reading Venice 