A savory travelogue with insights that go beyond taste and texture.
British gourmand in Spain discovers that the journey is more interesting than the meal—and the meals are good.
As a paean to gluttony, this book by Barlow (Intoxicated, 2006, etc.) could hardly be worse. He writes repeatedly of stuffing himself to capacity, until he was worried that his stomach lining would burst. The reason for all this overeating was that the Cambridge-educated writer, who makes his home in Spain with an understanding vegetarian wife, had decided to travel around Galicia, the country’s cold, remote and mulishly stubborn northwestern quadrant, and complete a self-issued challenge: “to eat every part of the pig, in as many different places as possible.” That sort of premise is a typical food-writing conceit these days, but Barlow is a writer first and foremost, not just another foodie looking for a publisher to pick up his tapas tab. Although he dutifully ticks off the various wobbly and gristly pork bits (ears, hooves, brains), he seems to have been most engaged when wandering through remote, frequently depopulated Galician hamlets in which electricity was a recent innovation and pig slaughters were viewed as fun for the whole family. At one Carnival, “clown-monster-avenger figures” called peliqueiros whacked bystanders with impunity, according to ancient tradition, before everyone converged to gorge on a pile of steaming pigs’ heads. Further travels exposed the author to delicious variations on a staple Galician stew that featured most parts of the pig. Barlow embraces his adopted culture with affectionate and knowing ribbing: “Wine containers with vertical or at least relatively vertical sides are not good enough for Galicians; that would not be complicated enough. Something more troublesome is required, and what amounts to a small plate for your beverage is perfect.”
A savory travelogue with insights that go beyond taste and texture.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-374-15010-5
Page Count: 310
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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