This week on Portsmouth Point we are still feeling the literary love from World Book Week. Hannah H, Year 12, recommends Anthony Bourdain's 'A Cooks Tour'.
A Cook’s Tour is a fantastic book entailing Anthony Bourdain’s travels across the world in search of the “perfect” meal. As the readers we live vicariously through Bourdain as he crashes around the globe, witnesses where food comes from, relives boyhood memories and experiences nearly getting shot in Cambodia. Through his gonzo prose we eat what he eats, drink what he drinks and immerse ourselves in cultures and cuisines across the world.
I personally loved this book, with it being a fantastic way to escape from the monotony of school and the rigidness of A-Levels. Bourdain is unapologetic, raw and adventurous with his writing reflecting his personality. It was refreshing to read a non-fiction book that read like a novel filled with exciting tales of food and good company. Bourdain is opinionated, self-deprecating, unfazed; he hates vegetarians and loves Vietnam. He is undeniably relatable, demonstrated by his embarrassment in Tokyo, guilt at killing Bugs Bunny in Scotland, disgust at some of the things he has eaten and terror at being invited on a girl’s night in Spain. I have never encountered such a relatable author. One that doesn't deny his vices and the camera crew that follows him around like vultures waiting for TV gold. ( A Cook’s Tour was also a television series that Bourdain developed into a book.) It is refreshing to see such unfiltered opinions and although you may not agree with everything he says, it is hard not to hang on his every word. This book solidified my love of cooking, travel and Bourdain, forever envious that I will never meet, cook or live like him (maybe for the better considering how much he drank and smoked…). Through Bourdain we see that cooks, hilariously, really are the same everywhere: a community of oxymoronic, rebellious, devoted, fiery, pretentious jerks, who care incredibly about other people's opinions and create some of the best experiences on the planet.
But every book has its flaws (however few) and for me it was the length of so many fantastic stories. They were maybe slightly too condensed. I would have loved to read more about his experiences, especially in Britain and Mexico. Like most travellers he frequently visited Southeast Asia although it was never a source of boredom due to the wide variety of culture and food in the region. Furthermore, I would have loved for Bourdain to visit Australia, New Zealand and more of South America, but alas he was the sorry slave of Food Network. Unfortunately, due to A Cook’s Tour Bourdain’s marriage deteriorated to a woman whom he clearly loved, demonstrated by his experiences with her in Sandy Saint Martin and twenty years together sharing the same routine every time they visit.
Overall, A Cook’s Tour is a book I would highly recommend with an insightful and wonderfully authentic message regarding perfection (one I will not spoil) and about life itself encouraging us all to experience the world to the fullest.
There’s a lot I haven’t tried.
I’m still here, I tell myself.
I’m still here.
