A Cook’s Tour

"A Cook's Tour" by the wonderfully worldly and well-traveled Anthony Bourdain, is a book about food like no other, and it is simultaneously entertaining, exciting, and revolting. Tony travels the world in search of the perfect meal; it's an exciting quest for any chef to ponder, but along the way he comes across numerous local delicacies that can be best described as only for the strong of heart. Although he encounters several problems with dishes from around the world (the Mexican sautéed ant eggs and Scottish deep-fried haggis with curry sauce and deep fried egg stand out), the most stunning for my money are the things he eats in Asia, and especially Vietnam. I for one would not be able to eat the traditional Vietnamese breakfast of soft-boiled duck embryo complete with feathers, followed by a steaming bowl of "chao muk", a hearty soup made from ginger, sprouts, cilantro, shrimp, squid, chives, pork-blood cake, and croutons; later Tony enjoyed some braised bat ("imagine braised inner tube, sauced with engine coolant"). Even worse than that, though, is the concept of eating a still-beating cobra heart, after a very special snake disemboweling ceremony. While Vietnam takes the proverbial cake, the book features other gastronomic nightmares from around the globe, with Japan coming in second in the contest for unusual and disturbing foodstuffs. The foodie tour of Japan started out benignly enough, with an appetizer of "amuse-gueule of hoshigaka goma-an" (dried persimmon and fried soy curd with sesame paste), but quickly progressed to things like "suppon-dofu" (a soft-shell turtle in egg pudding with green onion and turtle broth), and culminated in the classic and beloved Japanese delicacy, "natto", which Bourdain describes as "an unbelievably foul, rank, slimy, glutinous, and stringy goop of fermented soybeans". After the natto, Bourdain finished with a dish described as "mountain potato": of this he said, "I could only handle a single taste. To this day, I have no idea what it really was.... The small, dark, chewy nugget can only be described as tasting like salt-cured, sun-dried goat rectum". Throughout the book, Bourdain maintains his wry, sarcastic sense of humor, possibly as a survival tool to get him through his next meal. He mocks a vegan potluck dinner as the "real heart of darkness", discusses fabled and exotic foods such as the unbelievably rank durian fruit, and always manages to do it while being respectful of local traditions and cultures very different from his existence in New York City. This is a great book for anyone interested in foods and cultures of the world, and I recommend it highly!

This was my first read by Bourdain; I was entranced, not only by the range of what he managed to eat, but by the highly crafted sentence. He tries anything the chefs of various countries put in front of him. The big wood grub? Down the hatch. Haggis? Likewise. He eats it so you don't have to. Great travel and foodie memoir. Loved this book.

If you're sensitive, vegetarian, love animals, or don't want to think about that awful moment when say, a cow becomes a steak, this is most definitely not the book for you. Things become unalive and turned into meals often here, which seems in part for shock value, and in part because the author is still trying to digest - no pun intended - what he's experienced. I have not seen the TV series, and now don't need to as I've read plenty about the experiences, the cameras panned away while he shares his view. Anthony is, as ever, a unique mix of cynical, excited, and weary. He seems continually surprised that this is his life: "Things had not turned out as I’d hoped. Two days of travel up a no-name river and across the worst road in the universe – and for what? This was no gamblers’ paradise. The ‘vice capital’ was the same collection of dreary whorehouses and bars as everywhere else, only less welcoming. The citizens seemed stunned, lethargic, frightened, angry – not what you want in a destination resort." Some of the descriptions of other cultures (read: not New Yorkers or carnivores, as his disdain for vegetarians is near legendary) verges on racist, while others are more generous, even delighted. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Anthony's noted substance issues - cigarettes and alcohol here - and obvious mental health issues, pep talking himself through things. He's missed.

Loved it! You really feel like you are traveling with him. The language and the vibe are exactly like watching No Reservations.

Amazing book ... Always been a fan of Bourdain, seen every show, and even travel to all the South East Asian destinations that he mention on his shows, try to eat at the same places. As Tony once said I’m also. “Pork slut” I like his shows because I identify with him, it was like I was looking at my self. This is my first time reading a Bourdain book, the only thing I regret is that I didn’t read it before. The book is insightful, gritty and the story telling style of Tony makes you feel like you are there, the way he describes the locations, the food, the people is amazing, I felt as if i was actually there. I could see the KR in Cambodia, feel the adventure, and taste the food in Vietnam. What a gifted story teller. RIP Mr Tony

Another great book by the late Anthony Bourdain. Most people would associate Bourdain with celebrity chef status but overlook the fact that he was a really great writer. I assume he wrote most of the dialog for his TV shows as his books have the same amazing descriptive, and often amusing turn of phrase throughout. In this book he travels to many places in the world and experiences their food and drink first hand. Most of the destinations are in Asia; Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan etc, but he also visits other odd destinations such as Portugal, Russia and Scotland. It's not all fun and games and drinking. There are some moving, souls searching moments when he first has to confront slaughtering and butchering an animal first hand. Well worth reading. My complaint is that there does not seem to be an audio book that Tony narrated himself. A real shame as he also had a great voice.

Anthony is such an incredible writer. Love to read his works and understand him better. A good man but is view that vegans are no good because they dont want to harm animals is deluded considering he shutters everytime he actually has to kill an animal himself. Generalizing vegans as judging others in poverty stricken areas earing animals is absurd. If that's all they have to eat then that's fine but in USA its not necessary to eat disgusting factory farmed crap which he himself said produces low quality meat/dairy. Saying a vegan is wrong because they are financially stable but dont want animals to suffer is just as hypocritical as being financially stable and eating animals, makes no difference. We aren't living hundreds of years ago, we are living in the now where there are healthy alternatives to dead animal, there's nothing wrong with that. In fact it promotes an understanding toward living things like rastafarians, Buddhists, Hindus, seven day Adventist etc. Either way, i miss you Anthony. RIP, and thank you for the engaging reading. I wish there was more.

I loved every word of this book; I am new to his writing having not read this work Kitchen Confidential so his approah to his craft was surprising and refreshing. I was particularly impressed with his total love for the craft/art of food preparation and his total enjoyment of the products in their many guises of that craft/art. I must use these terms together because, as he so clearly shows in his book, preparing sheeps head soup in the back garden of a colleague in Mexico is one thing but eating the other-worldly creations of Thomas Keller at the French Laundry in the Napa valley is decidedly something else. I took Bourdain at face value: when he said after entering a pub in Edinburgh, "I'm never leaving" or in Nha Trang, Vietnam after many good experiences says, "I love it here" or in Russia drinking vodka with black bread and sausage that it was "in many ways a perfect meal" you're left with a profound respect for a person who can love his surroundings and the food of those surroundings so much. I was impressed with his obvious love for the people, the places and the culinary glue that held it all together: as food lovers we can appreciate these feelings but to find them duplicated and articulated so well by a professional chef makes for a very good and heartwarming read. If you like food and travel you could not find a better book in which to indulge yourself.

Honestly after his death it is amazing to read this book and listen to Tony's voice jump out on the page. His writing style closely respembles to Gonzo journalist style of the 90's. He gives you a respectful but mostly homes perspective on each place he visits which makes these foreign countries other worldy .

I wanted to love this, I really did, but I can’t. It’s pretty boring, actually. And despite claiming to the “unlike a traditional travel guide,” that’s exactly why it ends up being.

I have read just 3 chapters of the book and have decided to read more as I travel thru Europe this September. Found the book difficult to put down....so have packed it with my clothes for travel.

Gran libro, muy interesante y una pieza esencial para acompañar aquel show de Anthony que relata este mismo libro.

It is the first book I've ever read by Anthony Bourdain and now I know it won't be the last. I enjoyed every single page of this book, it is a great choice to overcome your reading slump! Only complaint would be the Amazon deliverer putting my package in my mailbox in such an awful way, anyone in the building without keys could easily get it. I hope Amazon deliverers decide to stop putting small packages in mailbox with 70% of the package hanging out.