Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.38 AVERAGE
3.38 AVERAGE
This was OK, but it had a real chance to be better. Hidden behind the gimmick of eating every bit of the pig is a book about Galicia's history, culture, and people. Parts of it were really interesting, and I found the constant lengthy descriptions of gluttonous ingestion of bits of pig a distraction (in fact the first chapter, in which he claims to have eaten cocido long past the state of satiety made me feel sick). It would be quite hard for a vegetarian to read this book, so he's restricting his market too. Warning: it ends with a no-holds-barred description of a traditional matanza (pig-killing).
I suppose he felt he needed a USP to attract a publisher but It would have been much better if he'd just left that aspect out -- while still, of course, addressing the Galician obsession with pigs (not that other parts of Spain don't have pig obsessions too). Then he could also have written about seafood and fish, an equally important part of Galician culture (he only mentions eating octopus once in the entire book). And the chapter about Manuel Frega might have made more sense in a more general book -- it is completely out of place here, and not that interesting anyway, since he doesn't know how to interview him.
He's not a great writer, and given that he's from Yorkshire I found the Americanization of the text (presumably imposed by a US publisher) a bit irritating. Still, there were things to enjoy here. Worth a read if you are thinking of visiting Galicia. Favourite quote:
I suppose he felt he needed a USP to attract a publisher but It would have been much better if he'd just left that aspect out -- while still, of course, addressing the Galician obsession with pigs (not that other parts of Spain don't have pig obsessions too). Then he could also have written about seafood and fish, an equally important part of Galician culture (he only mentions eating octopus once in the entire book). And the chapter about Manuel Frega might have made more sense in a more general book -- it is completely out of place here, and not that interesting anyway, since he doesn't know how to interview him.
He's not a great writer, and given that he's from Yorkshire I found the Americanization of the text (presumably imposed by a US publisher) a bit irritating. Still, there were things to enjoy here. Worth a read if you are thinking of visiting Galicia. Favourite quote:
Spain doesn't demarcate the different spheres of social living much, which makes the country a bit like a giant kindergarten with a bar in it and a permanent tapas menu fixed to the wall.
An enjoyable and humorous read through what you should call the un-Spain, Galicia. Barlow, an Englishman, is married to the lovely Susana, a Gallega, and they live in Coruna with their son, Nico. I bought this book based on Nancy Pearl's recommendation. I'm glad I did. In Barlow's quest to eat everything from a hog we are subjected to a vivacious zest for all things Galician. My wife's family comes from Galicia and I'm ready to visit there and even possibly retire there. One of the only things that really bothered me about this book was the total absence of pictures and a map. During the course of the narrative he was always taking pictures of people and food but nary a one appears in the book. And maybe that's a good thing because the beauty of Galicia would just motivate more people to move there and destroy it; but somehow I don't think the Gallegos would let that happen.
an interesting culinary romp through Galicia, Spain; and I learned that there are quite a few famous Galicians, many of whom I found surprising
funny
informative
medium-paced
funny book about the authors trips around Galicia to eat a whole pig , informative
I struggled with this one. The authorial voice is a bit too arch, the tone too memoir-like for what is ostensibly a book about eating pigs. He almost lost me when he mentioned the brand of his notebook, and there were several other digressions that had nothing at all to do with pork. It wasn't at all what I was expecting, the quality of the writing didn't knock me out, and I was not engaged by any of it.