Gastronaut: Adventures in Food for the Romantic, the Foolhardy, and the Brave [Paperback]

Stefan Gates (Author), Max La Riviere-Hedrick (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2006

An irreverent journey through the culinary world of the exotic, the bizarre, and the truly extraordinary, Gastronaut is equal parts cookbook and quest book. For your bedside or your stoveside, this hilarious and captivating journey through some of the strangest food experiences, past and present, is divided into three levels of escalating difficulty. Whether you're ready to gild your breakfast sausages with gold, re-create the Last Supper, or cook a whole pig in an underground fire pit, this book takes it all on with gusto and little regard for what one might call decency.

Gastronaut answers questions like:
• what foods make us fart?
• how do you make your own moonshine?
• is it possible to teach grandmas to suck eggs?
• how would you stage a bacchanalian orgy in the comfort of your own home?
Here is the perfect book for people who are fascinated by the wilder side of food and who, every now and then, want to show off their penchant for the extreme.


THE GASTRONAUT'S CREED
Food will consume 16 percent of my life. That life is too precious to waste; therefore:
• I resolve, whenever possible, to transform food from fuel into love, power, adventure, poetry, sex, or drama.
• I will never turn down the opportunity to taste or cook something new.
• I will never forget: canapés are evil.
• I will remember that culinary disaster does not necessarily equal failure.
• I will always keep a jar of pesto to hand in case of the latter.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Comedian Gates is an "epicurean desperado," willing to cook and eat anything—at least once. After all, he argues, if we eat 22 tons of food over our lifetimes and use 16% of our waking lives preparing food, shouldn't we try for the occasional "culinary epiphany" by maximizing our "excitement-to-mastication ratio"? A "culinary disaster" is not necessarily a "culinary failure," he reminds readers as he explains how to prepare fish sperm, sweetbreads, head cheese and cow heel. He admits he hasn't (yet) tried some dishes—such as those for Roasted Placenta Loaf, and Quick 'n' Easy Termites—but most have the user-friendly directions that signify a well-tested recipe. The book has no rigid structure, so a chapter on gold-plating food leads to a section on how to recreate a bacchanalian orgy or even the Last Supper, followed by an exploration of cannibalism and a look at cooking with aftershave. By the time readers reach the 11 pages of directions for producing an imu (a Polynesian pitbake requiring, among other things, a huge yard, a couple of truckloads of scrap iron and a small lamb or goat), they'll be with Gates in spirit, even if they're not ready to bring in the backhoe. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Brilliant. Deranged, but brilliant." -- Heston Blumenthal, author of Family Food

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (April 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156030977
• ISBN-13: 978-0156030977
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #931,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars True food adventurer, October 12, 2006

By 

Yim Tonia Chu (Quincy, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gastronaut: Adventures in Food for the Romantic, the Foolhardy, and the Brave (Paperback)

Anyone who thinks he or she is a food adventurer should read this book. Gates has brought the adventure to a whole new level. I was amazed, thrilled, then aghast in the journey of the Gastronaut. Being a Chinese and a food lover, I never thought a Westerner can be as brave and as romantic about food. While a few of Gates's experience would make me frown and close the book for a few minutes, most stories are quite inspiring. I especially enjoy his "cooking with gold" and would like to try it out myself someday.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So you think you'd try anything once..., December 31, 2006

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gastronaut: Adventures in Food for the Romantic, the Foolhardy, and the Brave (Paperback)

Some of the dining suggestions in this book are too disgusting to read, such as Mackerel Tartare, Monkey Gland Steak and nearly all of Chapter 3, "Food and the Body," which considers the edible qualities of things like scabs and ear wax.

But for the most part British writer Gates is a comic adventurer who has gone to absurd lengths in playing with his food so that you won't have to - cooking with aftershave, insects and gold; making stills, margarine, and Fish Sperm on Toast; exploring the elaborate, or at least lengthy, traditions of Birds' Nest Soup, Chicken Foot Stew, Headcheese, and teaching your grandmother to suck eggs.

History abounds, along with pointers on recreating such momentous events as Bacchanalian orgies and various Last Suppers. There's Elvis' Fried Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich, Andy Warhol's Chocolate Balls, the Deep-fried Mars Bar and various elements of classic British cookery, such as Hasty Pudding, Flummery, Lumpydick, and Gruel, not all of which are considered suitable for eating.

There are some practical dishes too, which retain, of course, the spirit of fun off the beaten track - Stuffed Fish Heads, Stargazey Pie, Gravlax, and seasonal suggestions like spring carrot jam and autumn mushroom ketchup.

Gates is witty, knowledgeable and irreverent. Recipes are definitely included. For food mavens tired of eating sensibly.

-- Portsmouth Herald

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, March 28, 2006

By 

Jennifer A. Wickes "Food Writer" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Gastronaut: Adventures in Food for the Romantic, the Foolhardy, and the Brave (Paperback)

Gastronaut will take you where no man has gone before. (Sorry! I couldn't help myself!) Stefan Gates is like a combination of Bill Bryson and Alton Brown. He has Alton Brown's wit, imagination and creativity, and Bill Bryson's humor and outlook on life! The part about teaching grandmothers to suck eggs was too funny!

Get this book! You won't be sorry!