In the spirit of Anthony Bourdain but without the sensationalistic glitz.
One gastronome’s worldwide pursuit of perfect—and perfectly awful—cuisine.
A veritable culinary Odysseus, food critic Bowles (E is for Eating: An Alphabet of Greed, 2004) set out from and returned to his native London to regale foodies and common omnivores alike with tales of exotic specimens from all ranges of the food spectrum. Over the course of “twelve months, four continents, 20,000 air miles and two inches on [his] waist,” he managed to shove a lot into his thrill-seeking maw. Yet his project was “not so much about picaresque derring-do (although there’s a little of that, albeit rather windy),” claims the author, “but a fascination with the world’s diverse cuisines.” As his adventure took shape, he “started to think about the relativity of dangerous foods, how one man’s pea is another man’s tripe,” and ended up concluding, “it’s our perception…that’s usually the biggest obstacle to trying new things, not the taste itself.” In some cases, however, as with the elvers (baby eels) of Gloucestershire or the gooseneck barnacles (percebes) dotting Spain’s Atlantic-pummeled coast, Bowles found that the harvesting of these unlikely delicacies could be as dangerous as consuming them. By and large, though, many of the foods he tasted—from Japan’s potentially lethal fugu (blowfish) to the merely unsavory silkworm pupae and posintang (dog soup) of Korea, to the bon waan (wood stew) of Laos and “bowel-shattering” American hot sauce—simply push the envelope of the Western palate and invite us to admire the author’s gastronomic courage. But while Bowles may fancy himself a professional eater with a penchant for risky man-food, he wins over his audience as a writer, describing dishes and sensations with the zeal of the recently famished, and his own hedonistic acts in delightful passages of unabashed bravado and self-deprecating humor.
In the spirit of Anthony Bourdain but without the sensationalistic glitz.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-312-37378-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2007
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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