“I chose to read A Cook's Tour because I am a huge Anthony Bourdain fan, as my other reviews on this site attest to. Anthony Bourdain was a chef in New York for several years who wrote this book, Kitchen Confidential, which was sort of an exposé of the restaurant scene and the restaurant business. From the notoriety of that book, he moved on and got a show on the Food Network called A Cook's Tour, where the show basically followed him to various exotic locales where he would sample the local cuisine and just sort of drink in the culture and experience the world from a culinary perspective. The book is actually sort of a companion to the first season of the Food Network's show.
It's satisfying in a number of different ways. If you're a foodie, it's great, great food porn. If you're a travel junkie, it's wonderful travelogue stuff; and also, Anthony Bourdain just has this incredibly snarky, smart alecky humor. I mean he's not just a comedian all the time, and he's not just the super-serious food journalist all the time. He has different sides to his personality.
Sadly enough, I have actually not seen this season of A Cook's Tour, so a lot of the chapters in the book, I wanted to go back and watch the show so I could see what he was describing and see what he was talking about. I do think that for someone who has seen the show, the book would be more enjoyable because you have that perspective going in.
I would recommend it to anyone who loves food, anyone who loves travel, anyone who loves snarky, sarcastic humor, and anyone who loves Anthony Bourdain. I would give this book four stars out of five.”
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