Alessandro explains some things about the characters in his books and tells a story about when he won the Strega award. The Strega Award is the most important Italian literary award. It gets its name from one of its creators, the owner of the company producing Strega, a brand of an amaro (after-dinner, digestive bitters).

From la nouvelle cuisine, which at its beginnings was reserved for fancy restaurants and connoisseurs and was looked upon with some scepticism, important lessons could be learned about cooking methods and the quality of the food itself.