A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines
by Anthony Bourdain
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Book Summary Information
Author: Anthony BourdainEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-11-05
ISBN: 0060012781
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780060012786
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines
Book Review: A Cook's Tour: Anthony Bourdain's Love Affair With Vietnam
Summary: 5 Stars
Anthony Bourdain is best known for his groundbreaking book "Kitchen Confidential," which details his career as a chef and disclosed that the people creating our fine dining experiences in the world's best restaurants are often "wacked-out moral degenerates, dope fiends, refugees, a thuggish assortment of drunks, sneak thieves, sluts, and psychopaths." He often ridicules Food Network personalities, yet in the end, his success and notoriety led to his very own show on the same network. "A Cook's Tour" launched his television career and gave birth to his book "A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines."
In A Cook's Tour, Bourdain sets out to find the "perfect meal" (or more realistically, a series of really great meals), not based on opulence and cutting-edge, fashionable restaurants, but rather an ideal balance of great food, atmosphere and people. His search leads him to the Moroccan desert for "crispy, Veiny" lamb testicles; saunas and smoked fish in Russia; kaiseki rituals in Japan; French Laundry in California's Napa Valley, and a lengthy series of adventures in Vietnam.
In much of his work, Bourdain make a point of explaining how other cultures have learned to make use of every part of the animal, once because of limited resources, but now because they've perfected the art, and made ears, feet and entrails into truly great meals.
Bourdain's humor is irreverent and he pulls no punches, telling us exactly what he thinks about where he is, what he's doing, and what he's eating, even if it's not very flattering. Unlike other travel personalities, he doesn't sugar-coat his reviews for the sake of political correctness.
The Food network series aired 35 episodes, 10 of which were filmed in Asia (Vietnam, Japan, Cambodia, Singapore and Thailand). His book however, narrows down the focus and gives us a look at where his heart truly abides. Five of the book's 17 chapters (including the intro) are set in Vietnam. A Cook's Tour essentially details Anthony's love affair with Vietnam, mingled with other adventures around the globe (other chapters cover Portugal, France, Spain, Russia, Morocco, England, Scotland, Mexico, California, Cambodia and Japan) while filming his show for the Food Network. "I'm in love" he writes about Vietnam. "I am absolutely over-the top gonzo for this country and everything in it. I want to stay forever."
In Saigon, Anthony explores the food offerings of Ben Thanh Market (including hot vin lon, or hard-boiled duck embryos) in-between vivid nightmares induced by anti-malaria medication. In Can Tho on the MeKong Tony drinks rice wine with decorated war vets who would have once considered him the enemy. Later he recounts with heart-pounding fervor, the experience of riding down Highway 1, known for its frequent bloody accidents. Then there is island hopping and fresh seafood dinner in Nha Trang, only to be followed by a revolting meal of bird's nest soup on an already bloated stomach. Of all of Anthony's culinary experiences in Vietnam, his most talked about (and most replayed on YouTube), is drinking the beating heart of a cobra in rice wine.
As interesting as Anthony's food adventures are, the characters in his book are equally memorable. Madame Dai was a lawyer and senator under South Vietnam's former government, who managed to thrive under the new regime by running a small, unadvertised restaurant in the library of her home, called "Bibliotheque." She is a colorful character who keeps Anthony and his government-appointed guide, Linh, on their toes with her sharp-witted humor and kind-hearted jabs.
Madame Ngoc is the owner of Com Nieu Saigon, a restaurant famous for its crispy rice cooked in a clay pot, which is smashed in the dining room, and then the rice is thrown across to the waiters at each table, creating a lively spectacle for the guests. Madame Ngoc is a powerful women, commanding respect and obedience from her staff (and even many of her patrons), but her tender-hearted kindness and persistent mothering endear her immediately to Bourdain and his entourage.
Anthony fell hard for Vietnam. Writing about Saigon, he states "I think I've gone bamboo...I've gone goofy on Vietnam, fallen hopelessly, hopelessly in love with the place." Despite his love for Vietnam, Bourdain apparently hasn't gone through with his plans yet, which may be due to not only his new marriage and baby, but also the success of his show "No Reservations," for the Travel Channel. Later episodes (including features on Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Japan and once again, Vietnam) and subsequent interviews reveal his more broadened appreciation of the region and less obsession over Vietnam alone.
A Cook's Tour is Bourdain's most appropriate entry-level volume for fans of his travel shows, although a book based on his current Travel Channel series, "No Reservations" will be available October 30, 2007. He has authored numerous other books, including The Nasty Bits, Gone Bamboo, Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical, The Bobby Gold Stories, and Bone in the Throat. Many are novels and all contain culinary themes.
Summary of A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines
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
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