Not a new book (November 1999), but new to my obsession of buying food-related book and even tons of Cookbooks, without plans to actually use the recipes in my own kitchen...I just love reading about food and honing food description tools for writing, Strange Foods: Bush Meat, Bats, and Butterflies; An Epicurean Adventure Around the World by Jerry Hopkins (author) and Michael Freeman (photos) has been a fun book to read!
Absolutely stunning yet not appalling colored images of "strange" foods: a bisected Filipino belut egg with prominent feathers, beak and wings of the partially developed duck embryo; the smiling face of Dr. Li, an herbalist at a restaurant in Singapore, displaying a prized wine-infused deer penis; a rustic image of large rubber band bound waterbugs surrounded by fresh, brilliant, green Thai chili, deep lavender whole shallots, and lovely scallions, awaiting their transformation into a spicy dip.
The photographs and the black and white sketches are intriguing and beautiful and somehow not extremely shocking. The book is full of smiling and par-for-the-course faces of natives preparing, eating, or displaying delicacies.
The text: Educational, low level scientific, and health-forward: calculating the fat content or protein yield of songbirds over red meat.
I do have one confession. I consider myself an adventurous eater - I'll try anything twice, and I love snails (classic escargot, with garlic, butter, and parsley) - yet it was hard for me to stomach the page on 'creamed slugs in a mushroom cream sauce and the multi-step process for removing their protective slime. Somehow, I was transported back to my childhood when I heartlessly poured table salt over these poor creatures inhabiting my grandmother's large wooden porch during summer months. Perhaps it's just guilt.
I consider this book to be every "foodie's" must read, with attractive sub-chapters such as "Dirt", "Poisonous Plants", "Genitalia", "Urine", "Butterflies & Moths", this is sure to served as an entertaining read and hopefully inspiration to gourmands who love to travel the world or are willing to creep into the the secret places of their own metropolitan cities to discover something... exotic.
I purchased my copy of "Strange Foods..." on Amazon.com, here.
What's the "strangest" thing you've ever tried at the dinner table? You can comment below.
Have you read this book?
