Name: Matthew Xu's review of A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain
Item: A Cook's Tour
Rating: 3
Author: Matthew Xu

Anthony Bourdain

From the host of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown and bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential, this wonderful book sees Bourdain travelling the world discovering exotic foods. Dodging minefields in Cambodia, diving into the icy waters outside a Russian bath, Chef Bourdain travels the world over in search of the ultimate meal. The only thing Anthony Bourdain loves as much as cooking is traveling, and A Cook's Tour is the shotgun marriage of his two greatest passions. Inspired by the question, 'What would be the perfect meal?', Anthony sets out on a quest for his culinary holy grail. Our adventurous chef starts out in Japan, where he eats traditional Fugu, a poisonous blowfish which can be prepared only by specially licensed chefs. He then travels to Cambodia, up the mine-studded road to Pailin into autonomous Khmer Rouge territory and to Phnom Penh's Gun Club, where local fare is served up alongside a menu of available firearms. In Saigon, he's treated to a sustaining meal of live Cobra heart before moving on to savor a snack with the Viet Cong in the Mecong Delta. Further west, Kitchen Confidential fans will recognize the Gironde of Tony's youth, the first stop on his European itinerary. And from France, it's on to Portugal, where an entire village has been fattening a pig for months in anticipation of his arrival. And we're only halfway around the globe. . . A Cook's Tour recounts, in Bourdain's inimitable style, the adventures and misadventures of America's favorite chef.

In Search of the Perfect Meal

A Cook's Tour

The only thing "gonzo gastronome" and internationally bestselling author Anthony Bourdain loves as much as cooking is traveling. Inspired by the question, "What would be the perfect meal?," Tony sets out on a quest for his culinary holy grail, and in the process turns the notion of "perfection" inside out. From California to Cambodia, A Cooks' Tour chronicles the unpredictable adventures of America's boldest and bravest chef.

Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines

Hannah—⁠☆

Context and memory play powerful roles in all the truly great meals in one's life. I mean, let's face it: When you're eating simple barbecue under a palm tree, and you feel sand between your toes, samba music is playing softly in the background, waves are lapping at the shore a few yards off, a gentle breeze is cooling the sweat on the back of your neck at the hairline, and looking across the table, past the column of empty red stripes [...].

Of course, I knew already that the best meal in the world, the perfect meal, is very rarely the most sophisticated or expensive one. I knew how important factors other than technique or rarely the most sophisticated or expensive one.

I wanted to see the world - and I wanted the world to be just like the movies.

I wanted kicks - the kind of melodramatic thrills and chills I'd yearned for since childhood, the kind of adventure I'd found as a little boy in the pags if my Tintin comic books.

van 

Matthew Xu

I miss Anthony Bourdain :( Bottom line, I really did enjoy this book - but I'd mostly attribute this average rating to the pretty repetitive structure and clear adherence to its originating TV series. There are some really beautiful and insightful passages in almost every chapter, but I wish the broader structure stayed more focused on the core question raised in the intro - "what (and where, really) is the perfect meal?". Instead, most of the filler time in the book is spent just recapping what, I'm sure, was a very riveting show in the early 2000's.

Bourdain's strength as a writer lies not only in his intense self-awareness, but the way that he's able to invite in readers as equals rather than as the typical, patronizing "expert". That self-deprecation and humility is one of the reasons I love Parts Unknown so much, and it's one of the biggest things that A Cook's Tour has going for itself. Bourdain's authorial voice comes through so clearly, and it's really easy to close your eyes and imagine the sights, sounds, and tastes he lays out in each chapter. 

It was also really interesting to read through this book in the context of today's understanding of social justice, cultural appropriation, and how that all intersects with food. Despite his gonzo style and railing against "political correctness" in a few sections, I was really pleasantly surprised to see how well the vast majority (almost all) of this book still held up by today's standards. Maybe Bourdain has earned himself some leeway with the thoughtfulness and sensitivity he brought to his TV shows, but throughout this book I felt a real sense of curiosity and respect, rather than the sort of ogling, exoticizing tone that many travel books can take. Bourdain is constantly aware of his outsider status and how his very presence muddies "authentic experiences", which helps counteract the typical form of "othering" that may be tempting (if unintended) in other contexts. He's also unafraid to confront America's own dark history with many of the places he travels to - take the following passage, for example:

"Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands. You will never again be able to open a newspaper and read about that treacherous, prevaricating, murderous scumbag sitting down for a nice chat with Charlie Rose or attending some black-tie affair for a new glossy magazine without choking. Witness what Henry did in Cambodia – the fruits of his genius for statesmanship – and you will never understand why he’s not sitting in the dock at The Hague next to Milošević"

That paragraph certainly doesn't absolve some of the blunt, brutish ways that Bourdain describes the people and places he visits, but I think it gave me more tolerance of his writing tendencies. Once you get past the rough exterior, there's a tenderness and care that comes through in the book, reflecting the pretty great person behind it all.

In this text, Anthony Bourdain sets off to eat his way around the world. But this is no conventional culinary tour. Bourdain heads out to Saigon where he eats the still-beating heart of a live cobra, and travels deep into landmined Khmer Rouge territory to find the rumoured Wild West of Cambodia.

van &
A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain

Reviews

Highlights

Join the club

van &A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain

Reviews

Highlights

Join the club

van &
A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain