June/July Selection: A Cook's tour - Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines

We at Cook the Books Club are going on A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines by Anthony Bourdain.  I am pretty much looking forward to this trip along with Tony, and the rest of you, into some extreme adventures with food and travel.  Though, I must admit feeling a bit leery, as he is said to be pretty outrageous.  One of us recently admitted to living under a rock, and I agreed to dwelling in a similar place, having never heard of or seen video or film of or read books by either Stanley Tucci or Anthony Bourdain.   So, coming out from under the rock, I picked this book after reading a few reviews, because it sounded fun, entertaining and even informative.  Basically like something I wanted to read!

Bourdain shows himself to be one of the country's best food writers. His opinions are as strong as his language, and his tastes as infectious as his joy." -Sam Sifton, New York Times Book Review

The only thing "gonzo gastronome" and internationally bestselling author Anthony Bourdain loves as much as cooking is traveling. Inspired by the question, "What would be the perfect meal?," Tony sets out on a quest for his culinary holy grail, and in the process turns the notion of "perfection" inside out. From California to Cambodia, A Cooks' Tour chronicles the unpredictable adventures of America's boldest and bravest chef.

From Publisher's Weekly:

"...  Chef Anthony Bourdain, author of the bestselling Kitchen Confidential ... 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."

What we do here at Cook the Books Club is to read a bi-monthly book selection, get inspired to cook something from it, post that inspiration and then voila, join in.  Deadline for contributing your post for this current selection is Sunday, July 31, 2022. New participants are always welcome. (Leave a comment here or check out our Guidelines page if you have any questions.)

Aloha,

Claudia

Honey from Rock