Rating: 
Summary: A delicious buffet of culinary adventures...
Review: This fun collection of essays, just like food ought to be, are served in small portions that satisfy but leave you hungry for more. Each story has info-nutritional value marinated in over 30 years of experience as a culinary journalist, and are smothered in rich, often spicy storytelling sauce. Robb Walshs' book "Are You Really Going To Eat That" reminds us that food isn't just a life sustaining resource, but an art that many spend their entire lives devoted to, obsessing over, and perfecting (often by their own proud admission) "in some small way". In forty stories Robb marches up 4,200 feet to a secluded notch of Jamaica's Blue Mountains to score "the ultimate cup of coffee", visits Chanthaburi Thailand to gag over Durian fruit - a highly desirable fruit in Southeast Asia which is an extremely odorous (smells like rotten eggs so bad that some hotels there have "no durian" policies). Or going to prison for dinner, where a legendary black southern prison cook (and 10 time convict) prepares him a chicken fried hamburger, gravy smothered french fries, and broccoli in cheese sauce. Each colorful story makes me hungry (even when the culinary subject is more "adventure" than pleasure), and reinforces a commitment in me to perhaps the most important aspect in our relationship to food....expirimentation. I doubt I'll ever have half the passion this man does for food; it's more than that to him, it's like a language he uses to translate the meaning of various cultures and their people, who often give more spice to their creation than the ingredients do. I highly recommend this book to anyone that eats for anything more than pure survival.
Rating: 
Summary: There's a Bug in His Soup
Review: Walsh goes from one epicurean extreme to another, from stinky durian to sublime Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. He must have been one of those kids who would eat a bug if you dared him to.
These essays are entertaining and informative (the crash-course on hot peppers, for example). Lots of fun, but Walsh obviously enjoys many dishes some of us are just not ready for (goat soup).
Too bad this isn't an audio book. I heard Walsh being interviewed on NPR and he was great. If they do issue an audio version, he should definitely be the narrator.
Rating:
Summary: Eat a Bug
Review: Walsh goes from one epicurean extreme to another, from stinky durian to sublime Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. He must have been one of those kids who would eat a bug if you dared him to. These essays are entertaining and informative (the crash-course on hot peppers, for example). Lots of fun, but Walsh obviously enjoys many dishes some of us are just not ready for (goat soup). Too bad this isn't an audio book. I heard Walsh being interviewed on NPR and he was great. If they do issue an audio version, he should definitely be the narrator.
Rating:
Summary: Rockin' Robb
Review: Years ago, when I was starting out as a reporter, I figured that politics and business were the only things that really mattered. But then Robb Walsh came along. He and I both wrote for the Austin Chronicle. His stories got more attention and more letters than practically anything in the whole paper.
Maybe getting older has made me wiser. Or maybe it's just that after reading Robb's stories, I've come to really appreciate food and good food writing. Or perhaps, I've finally come to realize that Will Rogers was right when he wrote "We only have one or two wars in a lifetime. But we have three meals a day. When you have helped raise the standard of cooking then you would have raised the only thing in the world that matters."
Reading Robb's BBQ book (Legends of Texas BBQ) finally got me to smoke a brisket (albeit on a propane grill).
This book is a wide ranging collection of writing on foods -- many of which I'd never put in my mouth. But Robb's easy writing style and graceful observations always make me hungry for more.
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