A Cook's Tour
In Search of the Perfect Meal
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4.6 • 29 Ratings
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- $20.99
Publisher Description
'It works extremely well. In large part because Bourdain is a very funny writer; sharp, honest and with a beguiling mix of belligerence and sensitivity' Sunday Telegraph
'Brilliantly written up in a raw, stylish gonzo prose, with pitch-black humour and a devilish turn of phrase' Evening Standard
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Anthony Bourdain, life-long line cook and bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential, sets off to eat his way around the world.
But being Anthony Bourdain, this was never going to be a conventional culinary tour. Bourdain heads out to Saigon where he eats the still-beating heart of a live cobra, and travels deep into landmined Khmer Rouge territory to find the rumoured Wild West of Cambodia (Pailin).
Other stops include dining with gangsters in Russia, a medieval pig slaughter and feast in northern Portugal, the Basque All Male Gastronomique Society in Saint Sebastian, rural Mexico with his Mexican sous-chef, a pilgrimage to the French Laundry in the Napa Valley and a return to his roots in the tiny fishing village of La Teste, where he first ate an oyster as a child.
Written with the inimitable machismo and humour that has made Tony Bourdain such a sensation, A Cook's Tour is an adventure story sure to give you indigestion.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this paperback reprint, swashbuckling chef Anthony Bourdain, author of the bestselling Kitchen Confidential (which famously warned restaurant-goers against ordering fish on Mondays), travels where few foodies have thought to travel before in search of the perfect meal: the Sputnik-era kitchen of a"less-than-diminutive" St. Petersburg matron, the provincial farmhouse of a Portuguese pig-slaughterer and the middle of the Moroccan desert, where he dines on"crispy, veiny" lamb testicles. Searching for the"perfect meal," Bourdain writes with humor and intelligence, describing meals of boudin noir and Vietnamese hot vin lon ("essentially a soft-boiled duck embryo") and 'fessing up to a few nights of over-indulgence ("I felt like I'd awakened under a collapsed building," he writes of a night in San Sebastian hopping from tapas bar to tapas bar). Goat's head soup, lemongrass tripe, and pork-blood cake all make appearances, as does less exotic fare, such as French fries and Mars bars (deep fried, but still). In between meals, Bourdain lets his readers in on the surprises and fears of a well-fed American voyaging to far-off, frugal places, where every part of an animal that can be eaten must be eaten, and the need to preserve food has fueled culinary innovation for centuries. He also reminds his audience of the connections between food and land and human toil, which, in these sterilized days of pre-wrapped sausages, is all too easy to forget.
Customer Reviews
Great Book!
If you miss Anthony Bourdain and traveling to interesting places with the most glorious food then this is a must read for you!