DUE to ill health, Antonio Carluccio has postponed his book signing at the Barnet branch of his restaurant chain.

The Italian-born restaurateur was scheduled to visit the Spires Shopping Centre's Carluccio's tomorrow, Thursday, October 8, to sign copies of his most recent book, Pasta.

A spokesperson for Carluccios says: "Unfortunately Antonio Carluccio is now unable to attend the book the signing tomorrow at Carluccio's Barnet, due to illness. We will of course be in touch if and when this is rescheduled.

Read our story from this week's Enfield Independent below:

WHEN it comes to mushrooms Antonio Carluccio certainly knows his onions.

I only have to breathe the word fungi during our interview and the Italian-born cook is away, talking knowledgeably about his favourite subject.

“In Italy everyone goes picking mushrooms in season, as a child you follow your parents and they teach you and you learn slowly what they are about,” explains the 78-year-old restaurateur, who grew up in the wooded north-westerly region of Italy.

“And the passion starts there. And it’s really beautiful – it’s almost a treasure hunt. This is the best season for mushrooms,” explains Antonio, nicknamed the “godfather of Italian gastronomy” for his long-running passion for cooking food from his home country.

However Antonio offers a warning, and says: “I know that Britain is a little bit starved of knowledge, most of the people don’t go to pick mushrooms here but they buy them in supermarkets.

“People can pick their own mushrooms but they should know about it – there are also some poisonous mushrooms and knowledge is paramount. It’s a question of death or life!”

Visitors to Carluccio’s can experience the mushroom-fest with a range of special fungi-themed dishes available until the end of October, including mushroom soup, mushroom pasta, mushroom risotto and mushroom arancini - rice balls filled with mushroom.

As a boy Antonio enjoyed delicious food cooked by his mother. Then, while studying in Vienna, he missed her cooking so much he began to recreate the dishes she would make him at home and so his love-affair with cookery began to take flight.

After moving to the UK in 1975, Antonio began to work at the Neal Street Restaurant in Covent Garden and began to attract attention from TV producers.

He made his first appearance on BBC2 in 1983 talking about Mediterranean food.

Antonio has written more than 22 cookery books - some of which are dedicated to mushrooms - and he is now working on his latest title which focuses on vegetables and is due out next year.

However, the gruffly-spoken gastronome maintains he is not a ‘chef’ but rather a ‘cook’, as he had no formal training.“The cook does it for love and passion and the chef they do it also for love and passion, but also for profession,” he muses, adding “I learned it all myself.”

Details: www.carluccios.com