Lynne J. (Doughgirl) reviewed on 11/1/2009 + 138 more book reviews

If you've ever seen one of Zimmern's shows on the Travel Channel - Bizarre Foods and Bizarre World - then you already know the subject of this memoir. Zimmern is a foodie who believes in going to the "last stop on the subway". In other words, he believes the best food and the best times are to be found in the least touristy places in any country. He's a culinary anthropologist who also believes that sharing a cultures' food and food preparation is one of the best ways to get know them.

As I read this book, I played a game with myself called "Would I Eat That?". Here are some of my answers:

- Puffin: Yes, I think I would at least try it. There are 8 to 10 million puffin in Iceland, where it is apparently a popular dish.

- Samoan Giant Fruit Bats: No, definitely NO. These are roasted and eaten whole. Just scrape off the fur and dive in!

- Pressed Duck: Nope, no way, no how. I had heard of this classic dish, which Zimmern had in a very exclusive restaurant in Paris, but I didn't know what went into it and how it was prepared. That's explained in this book. I'm not going to repeat the process for you here, but I'll give you a hint: Vampires would probably like this dish.

- Exotic fruits from around the world: YES, lead me to them! Unfortunately, most of these fruits will never find their way to America and many are found in countries I'm unlikely to visit, so I'm unlikely to get the opportunity :-(

A lot of the fun in reading this book is going along with Zimmern as he goes along with natives of countries around the world to hunt, and fish and dive for their food. From climbing steep island cliffs in Iceland to hunt for puffin to diving Australia's Great Barrier Reef to hunt for giant rainbow crayfish (which are larger than most lobsters), these stories were some of the best parts of the book for me. I'm incredibly jealous of the people he gets to meet and the cultures and activities he gets to experience - especially the Kalahar Bushmen and their Trance Dance, which was literally an out-of-body experience for Zimmern.

There are a few chapters in which Zimmern visits one of his favorite foodie cities and goes from restaurant to restaurant rhapsodizing about the meals and the food. I found those chapters to be a little boring and would much rather read about his adventures. The other thing that brought the rating of this book down a little for me was the absence of pictures. There are only five pictures in the entire book, and obviously since all of these adventures were made into TV show episodes he had access to a whole lot more to illustrate the stories.

I've only seen a few episodes of Zimmern's Travel Channel shows, but now I'm going to be watching more because they sound like grand aventures. And I'm especially going to be watching for the episodes that were detailed in this book!

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