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catherine_the_greatest 's review for:
Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer's Guide
by Cecily Wong, Dylan Thuras
This book serves up a combination of unusual foods, unique restaurants, food customs, and other loosely food-related trivia from around the world.
For example, the section on Mexico features:
*Huitlacoche (mushroom-flavored corn fungus)
*Toloache (a plant in the nightshade family with hallucinogenic propoeries that can be smoked or consumed as a drink)
*El Vilsito (an auto repair shop that turns into a taqueria at night)
*Pulquerias (bars that serve a fermented drink made from the same part of an agave plant as tequila and mezcal)
*Mezcal de Pechuga (mezcal made with raw chicken suspended over the still)
*Escamoles (ant pupae and larvae, fried in butter and served in a tortilla)
*Pasteleria Ideal (an elaborate cake showroom)
*Salsagheti (sweet & spicy gummy strands served with tamarind sauce)
*Mexican candy (a full page photo featuring different types of unique candy)
*Avocados (an explanation of how extinct giant sloths probably spread avocado trees throughout the region)
*Jumiles (cinnamon-flavored stinkbugs that are eaten live...wrapped in a tortilla)
*Molinollo (a 16th-century tool used to froth hot chocolate)
It's a pretty mixed bag, with a lot of foods that might be considered unappealing by outsiders. The focus here is on the unusual, rather than the best, with a lot of food history and food connections. For example, there's a two-page spread on "Yoshoku" (Japanese versions of western food) and another on Italian food in the former colony of Eritrea (East Africa). The section on the United States is the biggest (82 pages out of 411). Yes, there's a lot of diverse food culture in the States, but the book is definitely 'Merica-centric.
Overall, this would be a fun coffee table book for someone who enjoys travel and food. I checked it out from my local library and read it over the course of six weeks, which isn't really ideal. It would be better savored (like maggot cheese from Italy) when a certain country or region catches your interest.
For example, the section on Mexico features:
*Huitlacoche (mushroom-flavored corn fungus)
*Toloache (a plant in the nightshade family with hallucinogenic propoeries that can be smoked or consumed as a drink)
*El Vilsito (an auto repair shop that turns into a taqueria at night)
*Pulquerias (bars that serve a fermented drink made from the same part of an agave plant as tequila and mezcal)
*Mezcal de Pechuga (mezcal made with raw chicken suspended over the still)
*Escamoles (ant pupae and larvae, fried in butter and served in a tortilla)
*Pasteleria Ideal (an elaborate cake showroom)
*Salsagheti (sweet & spicy gummy strands served with tamarind sauce)
*Mexican candy (a full page photo featuring different types of unique candy)
*Avocados (an explanation of how extinct giant sloths probably spread avocado trees throughout the region)
*Jumiles (cinnamon-flavored stinkbugs that are eaten live...wrapped in a tortilla)
*Molinollo (a 16th-century tool used to froth hot chocolate)
It's a pretty mixed bag, with a lot of foods that might be considered unappealing by outsiders. The focus here is on the unusual, rather than the best, with a lot of food history and food connections. For example, there's a two-page spread on "Yoshoku" (Japanese versions of western food) and another on Italian food in the former colony of Eritrea (East Africa). The section on the United States is the biggest (82 pages out of 411). Yes, there's a lot of diverse food culture in the States, but the book is definitely 'Merica-centric.
Overall, this would be a fun coffee table book for someone who enjoys travel and food. I checked it out from my local library and read it over the course of six weeks, which isn't really ideal. It would be better savored (like maggot cheese from Italy) when a certain country or region catches your interest.