Globe-Trotting Eats

A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines; Anthony Bourdain (Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers; 2002; ISBN 0-06-001278-1).

Following up on my previous Bourdain read, this book is based on Bourdain's limited run television series of the same name. Going around the globe, Bourdain samples the cuisines of places as diverse as Japan, Vietnam, England, France and Morocco. The book feels less like an integrated read than a series of stitched-together short works (hence my tagging it as part of the 2008 Year in Shorts).

The essays vary, between essays and within the essays. It is almost there are two sides to a battle. Inevitably, when Bourdain is conned into doing something for the television show...it seems to flop. Iguana? Bird nest soup? Disasters.

But then there are the culinary jewels. When he strikes out on his own, or when he overcomes the suggestions of his producer, he hits the big time. Vietnam (more than once). Japan (three different excellent meals). Seeing just how far one pig can go.

There's more humorous commentary on the state of the world, the state of other chefs (real and "celebrity"), the state of food, the silliness of various wingnuts when it comes to applying our mostly American views to the rest of the world. And the food. Lots of food. It is mostly due to seeing and reading folks like him or Gordon Ramsay that I've been able to go into a farm market and appreciate the quality of the poultry or vegetables and realize what unappetizing pap most mega-marts sell. Or to stare at a pile of bones for sale at the butcher and wonder what they'd taste like roasted and make into stock. Or...

Made up of: Dear Nancy; Introduction; Where Food Comes From; Back to the Beach; The Burn; Where the Boys Are/Where the Girls Are; How to Drink Vodka; Something Very Special; Highway to Death; Tokyo Redux; Road to Pailin; Fire Over England; Where Cooks Come From; Can Charlie Surf?; West Coast; Haggis Rules; Very, Very Strong; Perfect.

Counts as 18 entries in the 2008 Year in Shorts.