Not Your Normal Kitchen

I just finished Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly and I must say, I enjoyed it thoroughly. I've been watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations for a couple of years and I am very jealous of his travels and eating. However, he'll eat anything and everything. He's admitted so in his book and in his blog. I, for one, would not even dare go where he has gone, food-wise. I do not like liver. I would never eat an eyeball, no matter how much sauce you put on it. And I do not like a lot of fish. But that's why I don't have a wildly, popular tv show and he does. His happy-to-eat-everything additude all began with oysters when he was a young boy on a family trip to France. I wish I could be this open to trying new foods, I suppose it could be my squeamish American mind that prevents me from doing so.

Anthony Bourdain has written many books, but I think the next one I want to read is:
No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach
Have you read any of Bourdain's works? You know he's written some fiction too.

Another chef, Andrew Zimmern, takes it just a bit farther. He has a show called Bizarre Foods where he samples food from all over the world. Not just everyday, run-of-the-mill food, he eats everything from bugs and rodents to eyeballs and guts. And there's a lot in between. Reviewing Bizarre Foods for the New York Times, Susan Stewart commented, "By taking an anthropological approach to food, Mr. Zimmern broadens his subject, conveying a vivid sense of place and serious appreciation for social and culinary diversity." Serious appreciation indeed.

If you have a strong stomach and want to check out Zimmern's show, get it from the library:
Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, Collection 1
Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, Collection 2

Zimmern just came out with a new book too, you should take a look:
Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World of Food: Brains, Bugs, & Blood Sausage