A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines
 | Harper Perennial, 2002, Paperback Customer Rating: 122 reviews Recommend |
|---|
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.
A Cook's Tour is the written record of Anthony Bourdain's travels around the world in his search for the perfect meal. All too conscious of the state of his 44-year-old knees after a working life standing at restaurant stoves, but with the unlooked-for jackpot of Kitchen Confidential as collateral, Mr. Bourdain evidently concluded he needed a bit more wind under his wings.
The idea of "perfect meal" in this context is to be taken to mean not necessarily the most upscale, chi-chi, three-star dining experience, but the ideal combination of food, atmosphere, and company. This would take in fishing villages in Vietnam, bars in Cambodia, and Tuareg camps in Morocco (roasted sheep's testicle, as it happens); it would stretch to smoked fish and sauna in the frozen Russian countryside and the French Laundry in California's Napa Valley. It would mean exquisitely refined kaiseki rituals in Japan after yakitori with drunken salarymen. Deep-fried Mars Bars in Glasgow and Gordon Ramsay in London. The still-beating heart of a cobra in Saigon. Drink. Danger. Guns. All with a TV crew in tow for the accompanying series — 22 episodes of video gold, we are assured, featuring many don't-try-this-at-home shots of the author in gastric distress or crawling into yet another storm drain at four in the morning.
You are unlikely to lay your hands on a more hectically, strenuously entertaining book for some time. Our hero eats and swashbuckles round the globe with perfect-pitch attitude and liberal use of judiciously placed profanities. Bourdain can write. His timing is great. He is very funny and is under no illusions whatsoever about himself or anyone else. But most of all, he is a chef who got himself out of his kitchen and found, all over the world, people who understand that eating well is the foundation of harmonious living. — Robin Davidson, Amazon.co.uk
Title: A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines
Sales Rank: 9932 in Books
Author: Anthony Bourdain
Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2002-11-01, Paperback, 288 pages, ISBN: 0060012781
Package Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches, 0.65 pounds
- More a bemused travelogue
- This book doesn't evoke hunger, or foodie delight. It's a semi-abashed (because he's traveling with a camera crew, and has to cooperate) account of him going around the world seeking food without often finding it.
This is not a terrible book. It just doesn't measure up to the standards set by any other foodie book I've ever encountered.
Pick… More reviews
- Some good stuff in there, but overall just average book. And animal lovers beware
- I am a big Anthony Bourdain fan. I couldn't wait to get this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of it, although some of the slaughter descriptions were a bit disturbing (I love animals). There were some truly moving chapters in there and some very interesting stuff. However, it really started to slow down after a while. Each chapter seemed pretty much like… More reviews
- More Focused Than Bourdain's Television Escapades
- ... and that's because in print, versus video, the ever-fascinating "bad boy" we've grown to know and love (well, tolerate; nah, love) doesn't interrupt an otherwise well-crafted exposition on the country he's visiting to "pull a Fellini" (but much less artfully) and digress into all sorts of asides, semi-charming castigations and "they made me do it!" aspersions that many… More reviews
- Fun!
- I thoroughly enjoyed this book and Anthony Bourdain's irresistible writing style. Friendly--not flowery or snobby. I guess I'm one of very few who found it much more entertaining than Kitchen Confidential. I liked reading about what went on on the other side of the camera and that some of the feasts and locations were not his choices. I was surprised that… More reviews
- as if you were with him all along
- This was a great, relaxing read. All the joys of a food trip (without the physical flavours and the life-and-death risks) without all the costs of an around-the-world trek. The great adventures of this chef can only inspire you to go find your own perfect meal. More reviews
- Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.)
- The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones
- No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach
- Bone in the Throat
- Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook: Strategies, Recipes, and Techniques of Classic Bistro Cooking
