Kayote B. (kayote) reviewed on + 254 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
Fascinating and amusing book. The title & back cover are misleading, though. The first essay talks about what he currently won't eat and needs to dispense himself of the invalid hang-ups. However, he only twice leaves the Western world after that--once to Japan, and once to Tunsia. So he never runs into really strange concoctions.
Which isn't to say the book isn't good--it very much is--it's just not what I was expecting. The author has a fun view on life and food, and little patience for un-supported health-caused food pickiness. I think he underplays allergies a bit, but his discussion (rant?) on raw foods was intriquing. He claims many raw vegetables prevent you from absorbing some of their nutriets, as a defense mechanism that breaks down after they are cooked. Which, if true, changes a lot of information on veggies. But I want to find it elsewhere first.
I also like his wife (who gets grumpy if it's midnight and dinner isn't ready). She's not a large part of the book, but he mentions her here and there, and she seems to serve as a reality check for him. I don't cook large, complicated meals, but somehow I feel with him as he struggles through a particularly obtuse one, or watches a skilled cook make the same thing over and over so he can learn how. And the food...I'm almost convinced I will love fish--despite many many data points to the contrary!
He tosses in a handful of recipes, which I didn't try, though I am copying the pie crust one out. The "Drying Sneaker" one was amusing, in his experimentation with microwaves. I was also amused (for unintended reasons) by the comment about a diet being a throwback to the Atkins diet. Atkins hadn't resurfaced when the book was printed, but it certainly has now!
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Enough I gave it to my father-in-law as a gift, and he says he did as well.
(Edited to add later: I am now reading his It Must Have Been Something I Ate, the sequel, and in that one he does go eat lots of odd and strange foods. So I guess they should have switched the titles!)
Which isn't to say the book isn't good--it very much is--it's just not what I was expecting. The author has a fun view on life and food, and little patience for un-supported health-caused food pickiness. I think he underplays allergies a bit, but his discussion (rant?) on raw foods was intriquing. He claims many raw vegetables prevent you from absorbing some of their nutriets, as a defense mechanism that breaks down after they are cooked. Which, if true, changes a lot of information on veggies. But I want to find it elsewhere first.
I also like his wife (who gets grumpy if it's midnight and dinner isn't ready). She's not a large part of the book, but he mentions her here and there, and she seems to serve as a reality check for him. I don't cook large, complicated meals, but somehow I feel with him as he struggles through a particularly obtuse one, or watches a skilled cook make the same thing over and over so he can learn how. And the food...I'm almost convinced I will love fish--despite many many data points to the contrary!
He tosses in a handful of recipes, which I didn't try, though I am copying the pie crust one out. The "Drying Sneaker" one was amusing, in his experimentation with microwaves. I was also amused (for unintended reasons) by the comment about a diet being a throwback to the Atkins diet. Atkins hadn't resurfaced when the book was printed, but it certainly has now!
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Enough I gave it to my father-in-law as a gift, and he says he did as well.
(Edited to add later: I am now reading his It Must Have Been Something I Ate, the sequel, and in that one he does go eat lots of odd and strange foods. So I guess they should have switched the titles!)
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