The best pleasure in life is to eat. This is what Anthony Bourdain’s try to explain us in his book “A Cook’s Tour”. He travels to the most exotic places around the world like Morocco, Portugal or Vietnam to describe the food diversity all these places have. This book it’s not especial only for its descriptions, but because Bourdain’s show hidden aspects of different cultures. Besides, his anecdotes and his personal life flashbacks make more enjoyable everything he eats!
“The buildings, the layout, the walls, the location, as well as the city’s agricultural and culinary traditions, all reflect an ancient siege mentality”, says Bourdain (106). I think this is the principle aspect in this memoir. It helps us understand that food it’s not only a group of ingredients cooked and placed on a plate. By the contrary, food has a long history that has maintained all through years. The way of living of a particular culture is reflected on the food they eat. Usually the ingredients they use are native vegetables or fruits, its preparation are based in the technology their ancestors developed like ceramic pots or wood fire stoves, the mix of flavors came from their creativity, and their dishes presentation comes from their religious traditions or their personal believes. Bourdain’s explains better this when he says the Portuguese or the Spanish have adopted the bacalao - a method of preserving fish for long periods- as a way to ensure naval power. Another example is how Fez (Morocco) citizens have a culinary repertoire developed around survival, food preservation and self sufficiency (106). I loved these historic hints! It made me value food origins and understand its beginning.
Anthony Bourdain’s sense of humor is definitely good! I think one of the best ingredients if you are looking for a perfect meal is having good company, and as I can evidence, Bourdain is one… I laughed so loud when he considered putting reindeer in his Christmas menu and said “Can you picture it? All those crying kids, wondering if that’s a chunk of Rudolph or Blitzer lying on their plates?” (93). It was also really hilarious how he pays the same attention to women as to food, while he visits different countries. He describes girls’ features and at the same time he tastes new food. For me this was fascinating, I loved how he compared food with women beauty! His words were mixed with the two types of flavors.
Food expressions are part of every culinary culture. I think this is one of the greatest traditions. Before eating or when you want to make a toast, people have different sayings when they refer to food. For example, in Ecuador, when we drop food to the floor by accident and we want to continue eating it, we have an expression that can be translated like this: “That which does not kill us make us stronger”. Sometimes, and Bourdain agrees, this type of expressions lost their real charm when we try to translate them. However, I consider them magic food spells!
Anthony Bourdain’s book reminded me that the perfect meals are not those really expensive and in fancy restaurants. A homey environment, good company, good food presentation and good music make the difference. What elements do you need in order to have a perfect meal?
In order to have a perfect meal, I'll need a rather quiet surrounding environment, good company and of course, excellent food!
ReplyDeleteThe perfect meal for me is actually when you can spend hours around a table, talking and eating with your friends or family. This is priceless.