“The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake – you can’t learn anything from being perfect.” Adam Osborne.

Oscar Farinetti has collected fifty stories that reflect how some of the greatest successes and examples of excellence in the food world came about by chance, while looking elsewhere, from the invention of foods such as tarte tatin to the sandwich, not to mention international products like Nutella and corn flakes, plus some of the world’s best wines, Gorgonzola cheese, and balsamic vinegar. Renowned delicacies like Milanese risotto rub shoulders with some unusual interlopers: Toscano cigars, Viagra and... humans themselves!

Fifty dialogue/stories that are rich in humour and reflections on the meaning of life, the meaning of a constant quest to invent something new, the meaning of human imperfection: what makes us so special... and so flawed.
To tell the tale of these discoveries, Farinetti consults their protagonists (real or imagined) or experts with in-depth knowledge: producers, gastronomes, cooks, pastry chefs, artists and scientists, including Joe Bastianich, Andrea Berton, Massimo Bottura, Antonia Klugmann, Carlo Cracco, Giovanni Ferrero, Francesca Lavazza, Davide Oldani, Bruno Paillard, Angelo Gaja, Otto Geisel, Muhtar Kent, Shigeru Hayashi, Carlo Petrini, Telmo Pievani, Vittorio Sgarbi, and more.