Before starting to read one of the foodie books below, raid the fridge and get comfy in an armchair, or order that next cocktail as you laze on some hedonistic island paradise and prepare to drool and dribble—having a napkin handy might save any embarrassing moments. Stories of travel inspired by food have given cooks, would-be-cooks, and even those who do not cook but love to eat, wild doses of imagination of faraway places.
Go on a journey of discovery through another country and its food—a bit like learning another language—through technique, culinary terms, dishes, and words that will make you salivate and your taste buds do a tango in anticipation.
1. Sharks Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop
The author Fuchsia Dunlop's career spanning 30 years of giving Chinese food to the West is in the true spirit of her adventures 'in pursuit of pleasure.' Growing up in Oxford within a family of food lovers created her lust for gastronomic exploits. She first went to China and Hong Kong when she was a student. Her family life at home consisted of dinners with a houseful of international students to whom her mother taught English. Her love affair with Chinese food led her to return to China time and time again to relish the food experiences in restaurants, street stalls, produce markets, and cooking meals. She eventually became the first Westerner accepted into the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine. Between the covers of Sharks Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China, you will be taken on her gastronomic journey as she immerses herself in the country's food heritage of various regions.
2. Amuse Bouche by Carolyn Boyd
Food, history, and travel morph together in Amuse Bouche—an informative book written with a wicked sense of humor about where France's proclivities lie concerning food. The author, Carolyn Boyd, is the definitive Francophile with a passion that shines through in her words. She searches out France's legendary dishes, chatting to artisan producers and dedicated French chefs such as the secretive Brotherhood of the Knights of the Giant Omelette. It overflows with quirky facts amidst stories that span every region of France. You will learn which restaurants not to walk past, where to source the best ingredients, and food festivals that celebrate all things to do with the serious business of French food.
3. Rice, Noodle, Fish: Deep Travels Through Japan’s Food Culture by Matt Goulding
Devour this book while licking your lips at the mere thought of tempura anything, noodle dishes to slurp, and divine teahouses to sip away the hours. Rice, Noodle, Fish: Deep Travels Through Japan’s Food Culture is a wonderland of exploration of Japanese cuisine that will have you booking a flight to Tokyo to sample the creations of sushi masters, the divine street food of Osaka, to slurp up a dish of ramen in Fukuoka, or to linger over the small meals that make up the kaiseki tradition of Kyoto. Japan's culinary traditions are legendary worldwide and can totally bamboozle the Japanese foodie novice. This book is a masterful creation combining travel with food. The photography is so vivid that you almost feel like you are tasting the dishes. The inside information about Japan and its long-standing food traditions will have you doing a happy dance in anticipation of your next trip.
4. The Spice Necklace: My Adventures in Caribbean Cooking, Eating, and Island Life by Anne Vanderhoof
A book for the unstructured mind, as the islands appear in a slightly mish-mash order. Despite this, The Spice Necklace: My Adventures in Caribbean Cooking, Eating, and Island Life is worth diving into for its quirkiness. The tale is a first-hand account of the author, Anne Vanderhoof, and her husband's days spent leisurely cooking and eating around the islands of the Caribbean while on a sailboat. It's a human story of food sharing, whether chatting with food gatherers such as farmers, hunters, and fishermen, or whiling away time in the presence of professional chefs or typical household family cooks on each island where they moored. You will float along from Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti, as well as Grenada and St Lucia—no spicy island or recipe is untouched, from a one-pot Grenadian stew to how much love and labor goes into the making of conch chowder. It's a feast for the mind that titillates wanderlust with plenty of recipes to occupy the armchair-bound traveler.
5. A Cooks Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines by Anthony Bourdain
No list is complete without noting Anthony Bourdain’s A Cooks Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines. Bourdain has a knack for connecting with people with his down-to-earth approach to food and his relentless pursuit of all things edible, including what many would consider the exact opposite. This book is a travelogue infused with eating, whether alone in a far-flung local restaurant or in the company of friendly cohorts wishing to instill their peculiar country's flavors and tastes onto a stranger. It's a frolic through authentic dishes in Cambodia, Vietnam, Morocco, Portugal, and the list goes on of the weird and wonderful that's chewed, gobbled, and swallowed as Bourdain soaks up the eating cultures of the world.
Gail Palethorpe, a self proclaimed Australian gypsy, is a freelance writer, photographer and eternal traveller. Check out her website Gail Palethorpe Photography and her Shutterstock profile.
