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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
This book encapsulates why I travel. Hell, it's why I get up in the morning! From supermarkets shelves in Hong Kong to pastry shops in Queens to guinea pig in Peru (which I indeed did order and eat; it tasted like bad dark meat chicken). Hooray for Calvin Trillin (and his editors) for putting so many of these wander/hungerlust stories together in one book. I want seconds!
When Calvin Trillin started writing his essays on vernacular foodways, the big irony was that a hyper-sophisticated New Yorker with access to the best cuisine would instead choose BBQ, bagels, and boudin as his favorite foods. Now, the challenge seems to be that there are fewer baffling but authentic new food experiences to discover.
This book has Trillin’s hubris turned up to 11.
I understand his passion for boudin and posole and ceviche and Galician peppers, but his outsized self importance has not worn well in he decade since this was published. I have driven hours out of the way to try and relive an incredible food moment. I have convinced friends, like he did, to join on my folly/adventure and enjoyed the trip as much as the treat at the end.
His humor is on display here, which saves this collection of his columns. Unfortunately that is overshadowed by his lack of understanding about how his demands in rural or impoverished areas can have an adverse effect. His gluttonous acts of having 3 or more lunches of the same item in a day looking for the perfect example he remembers from years prior seem to disregard the fact the providers and regions have suffered economically in the intervening years.
It seems this book was just thrown together because he needed something published. There is no attempt to connect the pieces together with some type of amuse bouchée between courses. I liked bits of it, but had indigestion several times.
PS. He has never been wrong about Kansas City barbecue.
I understand his passion for boudin and posole and ceviche and Galician peppers, but his outsized self importance has not worn well in he decade since this was published. I have driven hours out of the way to try and relive an incredible food moment. I have convinced friends, like he did, to join on my folly/adventure and enjoyed the trip as much as the treat at the end.
His humor is on display here, which saves this collection of his columns. Unfortunately that is overshadowed by his lack of understanding about how his demands in rural or impoverished areas can have an adverse effect. His gluttonous acts of having 3 or more lunches of the same item in a day looking for the perfect example he remembers from years prior seem to disregard the fact the providers and regions have suffered economically in the intervening years.
It seems this book was just thrown together because he needed something published. There is no attempt to connect the pieces together with some type of amuse bouchée between courses. I liked bits of it, but had indigestion several times.
PS. He has never been wrong about Kansas City barbecue.
Trillin's witty collection of essays about sampling local food that he can't easily get in Manhattan. He seeks out such culinary delights as fish tacos, posole, macaroni pie, pan bagnat, and barbeque pork sandwiches. Excellent read for any chowhound.
funny
The format of this book--food-based essays without much personal connection--didn't appeal to me. I made it just to 20%, and it took me two weeks to get there. I love food, but the depictions here didn't grab me, and I didn't really care about the author and his travels.
I wanted to like this book. the food topics were excellent. I just couldn't get into Trillin's style of writing. I enjoy food and reading about food and learning about food and history of food and culture. The food writing was good, but I really wasn't into Trillin's stories about his family. Usually I enjoy reading about such things, but not this style, not this... family.