Customer Reviews

Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Like some unholy hybrid of Rachel Ray and Fareed Zakaria, Ms. Fair uses her extensive knowledge of the world's hotspots and her love and talent for cooking to undertake the heretofore little-attempted mission of helping the reader actually learn something of use outside the kitchen whilst preparing to strap on the feedbag. The result subjects international relations, American foreign policy, and a sizable majority of the non-human animal kingdom to a healthy skewering.

Based on my own personal experiences with the author's cooking and rapier wit (she once helpfully explained to me the difference between "Northern Alliance" Afghan food and "Taliban" Afghan food), I believe you can safely assume that, in the end, you will be entertained, a little smarter for the effort, and in any event well fed.

Unique is an understatement. What other book full of carefully selected, international recipes includes a no-holds-barred "dossier of perfidy" for the 10 countries from where they originate and a bibliography richer than many doctoral theses? A cookbook with "Beer Butt Chicken" AND Zhen Qie Zi? Powerful and insightful critiques of Pakistani AND Israeli policies?

In her analyst-world, the author is well known for being direct and honest; someone once called her unvarnished, but that's far too simplistic. Read the book and you'll see she's also incredibly passionate about important things, creative in her approach to understanding and explaining them, sometimes pornographic, amazingly well-informed, often skeptical, and always brings along her 800lb vocabulary.

Everyone who reads this will learn something. Perhaps it will be about food and politics or just some new words for the NYT crossword or your GRE. Maybe you'll be inspired to know more about some of these places. I certainly am. Regardless, you won't read another book like this, I promise. Yes, I'm an "insider", but that doesn't make me wrong.
Hate the policies, like the people, love the food.

This isn't a book for the average foodie -- the recipes are pretty cool, but that's only half the book. The rest of it is a whirlwind tour of the biggest annoyances on the world stage today, from Iraq to... the US. Give this to a Fox News fan, they will have a boilover on the Israel chapter and probably pop a blood vessel on the US section. The history and analysis behind the book are heavily and impeccably researched and provide a tremendous amount of background information on places the average American knows very little about. However, it's not pure propaganda -- every country has its upsides pointed out (Cuba's huge corps of home-trained international doctors, for example).

The book isn't quite what you'd expect -- rather than being collections of recipes, each chapter is set up with a dinner party menu after the historical sketch of each country. The recipes were picked by the author specifically for their authenticity (her extreme reluctance to include the rather ubiquitous flan in the Cuba section is noted rather humorously) and include appropriate drink selections; the author isn't averse to humor, and it even shows in some of the recipes, going so far to create a frozen dessert for the US chapter called "Vanilla Ice". (In any case, given the subject matter, one might argue that humor is rather necessary to keep from losing your faith in humanity as a whole.)

I don't know at what point "hard-nosed realism" turned into "leftist bias", but this book is most certainly more the former rather than the latter. Both fearless and impeccably appetizing, this book should be high on any foodie's reading list. After all, as Jared Diamond pointed out years ago, food and history are intimately connected, and that history doesn't stop just because it's being made now rather than a century ago.

Every once in awhile, I stumble across a book that is just purely enjoyable to read. And as odd as it may sound to classify a book on politics and the nuclear arms race in that category, Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States was exactly such a book. As you can probably tell from the title, this wasn't your average political commentary. One endorser described it as Iron Chef meets The Daily Show - culinary mastery with wit and snark. In short, my type of book.

In the book, author Chris Fair takes a close look at the evil powerhouses in the world (i.e. those countries with the bomb or those who are trying to get it) and humanizes them with an exploration of their cuisine. From the so-called "axis of evil" (Iraq, Iran, North Korea), to nuke-possessing human-rights violators (Israel, India, and Pakistan), to the dashers of democracy (Cuba, Burma, and China), to the Great Satan herself (USA), the reader embarks on a rather peculiar world tour. Fair is unashamedly biased and opinionated, and yet manages to present a balanced perspective on many of these countries. What is extremely helpful is her brief modern histories of each country. Basically she explains why these countries hate the USA and what our past relationship with them has been. So for all of us 30-somethings who were too young to watch the news while, say, the Iran-Contra affair was unraveling, and whose history textbooks and teachers never made it past World War 2 (because what teacher wants to touch Civil Rights and the Vietnam War), these brief histories are the most concise explanations of these events you will have ever heard. One reads of the whole convoluted history of our relationship with Saddam Hussein, how the Taliban got its weapons, and why we let China walk all over us. The author doesn't hold back - all the countries are equally criticized and celebrated at the same time. It truly is a dinner party approach where friendship has to guide all other conversations.

And I know this sounds bad, but my biggest issue with the book was in it's treatment of the USA. Now, I have no problem pointing out our flaws. We are hardly ones to point the finger at other "evil" nations when we were the ones who funded their armies and set-up their regimes to begin with. America is far from perfect. And I appreciated the author setting the record straight that the Muslim world doesn't hate us for our freedom, they hate us for being a bully. But in exploring other reasons why the world hates America, I think the author let her personal opinions influence her focus a bit too much. She argues that the world hates us because a majority of us are so stupid we don't believe in evolution or at least think God might have been involved. Whatever her opinion on that issue, I highly doubt that most of the world hates us because we believe in God. If she thinks we are idiots, fine, but the argument went a bit too far in that particular case.

But in general, this provocative and satiric take on world politics was pure brilliance, and the featured cuisines were enticing. The author not only describes typical meals in each of the countries - complete with drinks and ambiance, she provides detailed recipes for a full-course dinner party. Since reading the book, I've tried a couple of the recipes (and can highly recommend the Margat Bamya stew from the Iraq chapter). They are easy to follow and she takes care to tell you exactly what should be happening with the food at each step and where you can go to find the more exotic ingredients listed. On the whole, I can only say that I wish all approaches to international relations were this entertaining and yummy.

Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations

This book was terrific. Hilarious. Informative. A fun and interesting read!

I had high hopes for this book that I had been waiting to read for some time. Unfortunately, it was extremely disappointing. Her tone is grating at best, but the real issue is the standards. I'm not sure exactly what of the legal differences between plagiarism and paraphrasing, but the writing is certainly shoddy. The chapter on North Korea, in which she attempts to be clever by calling persons from the country NoKos and a kidnapping victim "his hottie wife" is particularly telling. With Kim Jung Il's recent death, I wanted to read more so I started looking up the references. It's one barely paraphrased sentence after another. For example: From the Washington Post, "Benches where he'd once sat were sealed in glass and turned into relics." From page 7, "Places that graced his bum, such as benches, were sealed in glass and rendered into odd relics to the strange man."
The one point on which I cannot yet comment is the recipes. I haven't tried any yet, but they do look good, especially the Iranian ones.

This book, recommended in the Foreign Service Journal, manages to combine insightful political commentary with great international recipes. The author has lived in the countries included which gives credibility. Her sense of humor and ability to laugh at the absurd make her political commentary worthwhile. The only problem is that I was so absorbed with turning pages that I could not get up to cook the recipes in each section (Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran, India, Pakistan, Israel, Cuba, Burma, China and even the US)...

This book is a keeper!! I have greatly enjoyed the commentary and the meals. Enjoy!!

This quirky, snarky, arresting cookbook is geared for travelers, foreign policy wags, and culinary experimentalists. All at once!

Are you wondering what to serve to your Burmese dinner guest to provide a taste of the familiar? Wishing you were sitting in a Peshawari dive plowing through a plate of kebabs and rice? Chris Fair will take you on the adventure you seek. She is a marvelous cook, a seasoned traveler, and a witty guide to the flavors and foibles of distant locales. She provides a wide assortment of geopolitical tidbits to whet your appetite, and unusual, authentic recipes achievable using ingredients available in the West. A Sunday afternoon spent in the kitchen under her guidance is sure to satisfy the culinary adventurer.

Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations provides a very different kind of cookbook. Author Chris Fair has dined with soldiers in Afghanistan and prostitutes in India, and even had Taliban tea in Peshawar. His cookbook specializes in recipes from the 'axis of evil' countries of the world, while his stories blend culinary insights with cultural observations and a heavy dose of humor. Any who would 'know thy enemy' must know what they eat and CUISINES OF THE AXIS OF EVIL covers it all. Libraries strong in international cuisine and humor will find it an enticing pick.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch