From The Library

I just finished one of the funniest food books I’ve read in a long time. I checked it out of the library and it was so good I actually considered buying a copy for my permanent collection. Gastronaut is a collection of irreverent essays and recipes for “adventurous” foods.

A few of the recipes aren’t totally foreign to me; at work we have a pretty “whole hog” approach to cooking. Nevertheless, some is pretty wild – cannibalism, foods that promote flatulence, aphrodisiacs – it all appeals to my fourth grader sense of humor.

I also checked out Eat This Book and, although it should be just as funny and irresistible (a tale of a year on the competitive eating circuit!), it just misses somehow. The book skips around, the characters aren’t as engaging as they could be, I’m just not sure what happened. I wanted to like this book so much, but it took me two weeks to get through it. I read Gastronaut in one afternoon.

If you’re looking to make Buckinghamshire Bacon Badger, Monkey Gland Steak, Fish Sperm on Toast, or even throw your own Bacchanalian Orgy, or if you just want to spend the next rainy day (perhaps this afternoon) curled up on the couch giggling, Gastronaut is definitely worth the $14.