The Meal Hunter

So after a few months of looking for Kitchen Confidential at a string of libraries, I finally sucked it up and just dove into Bourdain through his second book, A Cook's Tour. Written in the wake of KC's wild success (and the foundation for a show Bourdain loathed making for the much-hated Food Network), it's an account of Bourdain parlaying that book's sales into convincing his publisher to pay for a trip around the globe, hunting for the Perfect Meal.

It's a notion that Bourdain knows from the get-go is ridiculous (and closes the book by saying so explicitly), but hey, given the chance, who wouldn't grab that brass ring? He treks to Portugal for a pig-butchering party that goes on for days, visits the hometown of the bulk of his kitchen's chefs, swings through Tokyo for a predictably dazzling array of foodie experiences, and ultimately spends the bulk of his writing exploring his travels in Vietnam.

That's where the book is at its best -- sure, French Laundry is great and perfect, and we know that if we've read anybody's articles about French Laundry, but Bourdain takes his trip to Vietnam to explore their cuisine (exploding in variety, freshness, and flavor) and to take on America's history there. On top of the usual, expected hating on Ugly Americanism, he writes compellingly, stunningly, of being faced with the aftereffects of our adventure in Vietnam. His rage is palpable -- at Kissinger ("Once you've been to Cambodia, you'll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands"), at our vicious napaalming of the countryside, at our ignorance, destruction, and arrogance. Most of all, at himself -- in some moments, arrested by the appearance of a man charred head-to-toe, he falls into spells of intense self-loathing at the facile, self-indulgent nature of his journey. And that's what makes Bourdain so worth reading -- as much as he's a braggart and a Tough Guy, he spares no hint of his uglier sides, and is ready and willing to cut himself off at the knees when (as is occasionally the case) he deserves it. It's solid writing, making clear that for Bourdain, both his kitchen skills and a superb ear for language laid the foundation for his celebrity -- underscoring just a little bit more why he might so loathe the stable of non-writer non-chefs currently running the network that made this book possible.