A Cook's Tour: the Global Adventure in Extreme Cuisines

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A Cook’s Tour: the Global Adventure in Extreme Cuisines (sometimes titled as “A Cook’s Tour, in Search of the Perfect Meal”) is one of my favorite travel reads. Written by Anthony Bourdain in 2001, the book is the perfect example of how I personally like to view travel most of the time. It focuses on culture and history of places and ties this back to food. Anthony travels around the world and tries the local foods, and does so in a traditional way. He is guided by the locals and talks the reader through his candid experience as well as the background and history of the meal and the way it is consumed.

Anthony highlights the importance of food in culture and how it is one of the best ways to connect with people and history of the place. The book starts out with a very vivid description of a particularly unique (and arguably cruel) meal of Ortolan.

This is a particular meal in that the bird is cooked and consumed whole. The bird is first fattened up quite significantly and is then drowned in armagnac. Then, the bird is efor something like 10 minutes, is plucked and then served. The diner consumes the bird with a napkin over their head and by placing the bird feet first into the mouth, consuming it whole. This is widely regarded as a huge delicacy in the culinary world, but is no longer very practiced due to the drop in the Ortolan population. However you may feel about this particular meal from the moral perspective, it is certainly a fascinating read. The rest of the book does not disappoint, either.

Places visited in this book are:

  • France

  • Vietnam

  • Morocco

  • Japan,

  • Cambodia

  • Russia

  • Portugal

  • Spain

  • USA - Napa Valley for the infamous French Laundry.

  • Mexico

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in food, world cuisines and/or travel. Highly entertaining content is also told very much in Anthony’s usual tone, making this a very enjoyable and easy read while also giving insights into some unique dishes and traditions around the world.

ReadsAnastasiya Kizima