Chef Marcella Hazan in the kitchen of her Longboat Key, Fla., home. Hazan, the Italian-born cookbook author who taught generations of Americans how to create simple, fresh Italian food, died Sunday at her home. Marcella Hazan, whose many cookbooks introduced Americans to the true food of Italy, died Sunday morning at her home in Longboat Key, Fla., according to her husband, Victor Hazan. She was 89 and had been in failing health for several months. Her daughter-in-law Lael Sara Caplan Hazan announced Hazan’s death on her Facebook page. “The world of authentic home cooking has lost a giant today. My mother-in-law Marcella Hazan, melted away peacefully, my father-in-law Victor was at her side.” Hazan was sometimes compared in importance to Julia Child, and if she never quite achieved Child’s personal popularity, her impact can be measured in the widespread popularity in this country of the cuisine she loved and championed. Tributes have poured in from fans all over the world, famous and non-famous alike. Television star Rachael Ray tweeted: “In Italy w John for our anniversary & just heard the sad news Marcella Hazan has passed. We will remember her in our hearts & our food.” British restaurant critic Jay Rayner tweeted: “Farewell to Marcella Hazan. Italian food in this country (and in so many others) would have been much less the poorer without her.” Read more http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydi...-marcella-hazan-dies-20130929,0,7215520.story
