Customer Reviews

The Year Of Eating Dangerously: A Global Adventure In Search Of Culinary Extremes

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Just finished reading "The Year of Eating Dangerously".

To say that this is a major declaration on food and humanity is an understatement!

It should be a college course on how to live fully and very well.

While reading the book I wasn't really aware of Bowles famous pedigree.

Even with it he writes with the common man's touch in his thinking.

Bowles is much more than his mother's son - he can flat out write.

Reminds me of very much of Bill Bryson with hints of Pete Hamill and Calvin Trillin.

For a year he gives up his body in sometimes-hilarious circumstances for our education and entertainment by overstuffing it and imbibing more calories, liquor and heat than one really should. But what the hell, he's young and will recover from his gluttony, hangovers and ghosts. Besides some of us are very curious about non-bland foods.

Not simply a food and travel writer he has surprising insights into who we are and what we put in our mouths with an astounding feel for history, people and the unusual. His quest is about a love for good food and a fascination with other cultures.

In my travels I have been on the lookout for unusual foods and have not be swayed too much from the dangerous. The only thing that Bowles missed on my special foods list was horse, considered a mid-European delicacy.

While reading this marvelous work I was reminded of several wonderful things:

The best place to see inside a local culture is the neighborhood food markets.

Eastern foods must be the most delicate blending of exotic flavors in history.

The Chinese will eat anything if the correct sauce is found.

Laotians live for today only and their foods reflect it.

The fiercest, most courageous and best fishermen are still in Spain and Japan.

Sicily has had more conquerors bringing food additions than any other small island.

Eating dog makes me horny and macho afterwards. It smells and tastes like wet dog.

Just because something smells horrific doesn't mean that it doesn't taste sensational.

Just because something smells sensational doesn't mean that it doesn't taste horrific.

Please do not compare this to `A Cook's Tour'. Anthony Bourdain was looking for the perfect meal and the book is a splendid read. Bowles was looking for foods that can literally kill a person. "The Year of Eating Dangerously" is a standout achievement on its own.

This is a MUST READ for anyone who wants to understand people through what they eat. It will be placed in the food sections of bookstores but it should also be placed in the anthropological section as well.

Read this book - you will relish the experience as much as I did!