Extreme Cuisine: The Weird & Wonderful Foods that People Eat [Paperback]

Jerry Hopkins (Author), Anthony Bourdain (Author), Michael Freeman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2004

Sit down for a meal with the locals on six continents - what they eat may surprise you. Extreme Cuisine examines eating habits across the global neighborhood, showing once and for all that road kill for one culture is restaurant fare for another!

"I could not have written A Cook's Tour without this book. There is so much I would have missed. And experience has shown me that no matter how frightening a dish may look on the page, in front of you, on the table, with a proud host watching your first tasting—and the accompaniment of much local beverage, it's almost always worth the ride. For truly—how bad can it be?

"So dig in. Enjoy. Eat without fear or prejudice, secure in the knowledge that millions of people have been enjoying this fare for centuries without ill effect. Get away from your hotel dining room—and the tourist terrordomes and range wild and free. Eat. Eat adventurously. Miss nothing. It's all here in these pages."— From the Introduction by Anthony Bourdain

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...an informative, if stumach-churning tour de gastronome. Make sure you chow down first; you won't be hungry afterwards." -- Time Magazine

About the Author

Jerry Hopkins has published more than 1,000 magazine articles and 26 books, including three international best sellers, No One Here Gets Out Alive, The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix Experience. A correspondent and contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine for nearly twenty years, Hopkins now resides in Bangkok, where he has developed a strong reputation as a travel writer, and writes regularly for publications such as The New York Times and Conde Nast Traveler.

Michael Freeman has published 23 books on photography. His work has appeared internationally in such magazines as National Geographic, GQ, and Life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Periplus Editions (May 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 079460255X
• ISBN-13: 978-0794602550
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #893,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Freeman, professional photographer and author, with more than 100 book titles to his credit, was born in England in 1945, took a Masters in geography at Brasenose College, Oxford University, and then worked in advertising in London for six years. He made the break from there in 1971 to travel up the Amazon with two secondhand cameras, and when Time-Life used many of the pictures extensively in the Amazon volume of their World's Wild Places series, including the cover, they encouraged him to begin a full-time photographic career.

Since then, working for editorial clients that include all the world's major magazines, and notably the Smithsonian Magazine (with which he has had a 30-year association, shooting more than 40 stories), Freeman's reputation has resulted in more than 100 books published. Of these, he is author as well as photographer, and they include more than 40 books on the practice of photography - for this photographic educational work he was awarded the Prix Louis Philippe Clerc by the French Ministry of Culture. He is also responsible for the distance-learning courses on photography at the UK's Open College of the Arts.

Freeman's books on photography have been translated into fifteen languages, and are available on other Amazon international sites.

They are supported for readers by a regularly updated site, http://thefreemanview.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary Taste and Flavor, September 11, 2004

By 

Curious Carnivore (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Extreme Cuisine: The Weird & Wonderful Foods that People Eat (Paperback)

Jerry Hopkins has raised the bar in food scholarship - Extreme Cuisine is an extremely entertaining read and a primary source for anyone interested in how (with recipes) and what other (often rural) world cultures eat. A most worthy successor to Unmentionable Cuisine. Great color photography inserts. Hopkins provides scholarly detail about some subjects some pet-lovers might find less tasty (eating dogs, cats, horse, monkeys, etc), some which are most assuredly unknown by most (eating rooster combs, wattles & testicles) and has a good sense of humor by including dumpster diving and eating roadkill. As Anthony Bourain learned, Hopkins is the perfect guide, the "Old Hand" to the other (than American style packaged foods) food worlds. A must buy for any serious culinary library.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly readable and fascinating, February 25, 2009

By 

Melissa A. Moore (Pasadena, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Extreme Cuisine: The Weird & Wonderful Foods that People Eat (Paperback)

This book is every bit as readable as Bourdain's "A Cook's Tour," and is a must for those of you who enjoy reading about food and its impact on various world cultures. Hopkins has a knack for exposing "extreme" foods such as dogs, cats, rats, insects, snakes, etc. in a manner which is interesting and does not cast judgement on the people who enjoy or rely on these foods for sustenance. There are pictures, RECIPES (yep -- not kidding), interesting facts, detailed histories, and general observations which will keep you turning the pages.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for readers with delicate stomachs., August 16, 2006

By 

R. Driver (Tucson, Arizona) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Extreme Cuisine: The Weird & Wonderful Foods that People Eat (Paperback)

Fascinating reading! In my travels I thought I had seen a lot of strange culinary customs but after reading this book I realize that I had barely scratched the surface. Apparently every living creature on this planet is a delicacy somewhere.