Saturday, March 8

A is for Apple - Alan Saunders

This collection of short essays rotates around food questions - does a meal have to include uniquesly Australian ingredients to qualify as "Australian cuisine"? Why do different regions consider different animal parts (and, in another essay) different animals, acceptable and unacceptable to eat? Does it count as Cajun if it's really just burnt? (No). Do some cultures really enjoy eating live monkey brains? (Um, nobody seems to have actually seen it, just heard stories). And why don't vampires like garlic?
The collection is interesting enough, quite well written, and covers quite a lot of territory. I enjoyed what I read, but somehow it didn't capture me, which is why I'm not rating it higher than 'not bad.' I don't know why I didn't get as involved in this as, say, Jeffrey Steingarten's It Must've Been Something I Ate, but for some reason I just didn't devour it with as much gusto (sorry!). - Alex

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