A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal

#77
Title: A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal
Author: Anthony Bourdain
Publisher: Ted Smart/Bloomsbury
Year: 2001
Genre: travelogue, cuisine
280 pages
I think I'm supposed to find Bourdain a hot, hip, un-PC bad boy of culinary and gustatory adventures. I think he's actually most appealing when he isn't trying so hard to be insulting, and to my ear his tales of vomiting, smoking, and eating animal testicles ring a bit false. This may be more the editor's fault than the author's; Bourdain's voice doesn't always hit authentically.
I enjoyed this compendium of cross-cultural feasting primarily for the food pornography aspect of hearing each meal lovingly described (even when Bourdain thinks the food is disgusting, he's clearly fascinated by it). It was a particular pleasure to read the chapters on Vietnam before and after a recent visit there, as well as the chapter on Cambodia, where I traveled recently. As for Bourdain the man, like durian, I would rather regard him from a distance.