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Summary: A Tour to the Heart of Darkness for Culinary Enthusiasts
Review: Bourdain's book A Cook's Tour is an exceptional tour of strange and interesting cuisine spanning the globe from Mexico to Portugal to France to Vietnam. He tells of a pig feast in Portugal, from the slaughter to the table. Of a full, entire sheep in Morocco. Of a bar-cum-shooting gallery in Cambodia with live grenades and AK-47's for sampling. And, of course, of the infamous cobra feast in Vietnam.Bourdain's style makes the book a quick and enjoyable read; his descriptions leap off the page (for better or worse--I could almost have done without a vivid characterization of eating natto or of the questionable French food Tete de veaux) and bring to life the exotic foods, locations, and people he meets. His gritty, no-nonsense approach makes everything seem all the more real and alive. Television fans may have seen Bourdain's show on Food Network and thus already be familiar with his culinary adventure, but the book is so much more and reveals every facet that failed to make it to the screen. If you enjoy travel or food writing, A Cook's Tour is a must-read.
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Summary: Even better than the show!
Review: Loved it, loved it, loved it! I am addicted to Tony! The book is funny with just the right amount of seriousness. I have him, and every one of his experiences, pictured in my head and can't want to his other books! Keep 'em coming, Mr. Bourdain!
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Summary: Mmmm.... Fried Mars Bar....
Review: To enjoy this book, you have to (A) really like food, and (B) accept that the whole exercise of Bourdain tramping around the world in a psuedo-quest for the ultimate food experience is rather artificial (which he admits right up front). So, bearing in mind that he's being trailed by Food Network cameramen, and has producers to prearrange a lot of stuff for him, Bourdain's global hopscotch of culinary exploration is a very readable and fun journey. He's not really looking for the "perfect meal" so much as looking for the experience that comes with food-from refined dining (there's a chapter on The French Laundry in Napa Valley), to home cooking (massive home-cooked meals in Portugal and Mexico, complete with barnyard slaughter), to street food (several chapters on Cambodia and Vietnam), to ritualized meals (in Japan and Morocco). If you like your travel narratives to have classy guides, this definitely won't be your cup of tea. Bourdain's "bad boy" chef image is no doubt somewhat calculated and contrived, but he certainly manages to get good and drunk in virtually every chapter, and he's a chain-smoker to boot. Mix in a large number of sketchy gross-out foods (deep-fried Mars Bar, sheep testicles, beating cobra heart, etc.), and you've got a pretty fun little book. As evidenced in his fiction work (Bone in the Throat, Gone Bamboo, The Bobby Gold Stories), he's got excellent timing and can be very, very funny. He can also be very human and poignant, as in the chapter where he and his brother revisit their childhood summer vacation spot in France, and when he talks about his Mexican chefs. Some people have complained that he doesn't describe the food well enough, which I disagree with. Writing about taste is like writing about music, you can only hope to convey a vague impression, and he's really more concerned with the overall experience anyway. I defy anyone's mouth not to water while reading the Vietnam chapters. Which is not to say to the book is perfect. I actually found his veering into the recent political histories of Vietnam and Cambodia to be rather clumsy but worthwhile. On the other hand, his anti-vegetarian screeching is just plain annoying and off-putting (I am not a vegetarian by the way). He treats all vegetarians as proselytizing, animal-lovers who want to ban any animal death-a portrayal wholly inaccurate of the many vegetarians I've known over the years. First of all, I've never met a proselytizing vegetarian, and second of all, most people I know are vegetarian, are that way for health reasons, not political ones. It's an even more irksome perspective in that he makes a big fuss over how upsetting it is to actual witness a pig/lamb/turkey getting killed for your dinner. It's as if he felt he had to put something feisty or controversial or nasty in there, just to keep his persona going, and it does nothing for the book. The vegetarian thing aside, I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone interested in food (and who isn't?) or other cultures. The chapters work pretty well on their own, and are the perfect length for devouring one a night before bed, although they'll likely drive you to the kitchen for a midnight snack!
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Summary: Eating as adventure
Review: Bouncing around the world with a camera crew in tow, Bourdain hits as many culinary adventures as you can imagine. Morocco, Cambodia, Vietnam, are all on his travel schedule as he pursues the perfect meal. Cobra heart, haggis, fugu are all on the agenda, but it's the little wonders that are truly memorable. The Tokyo fish market, the trip to the hometown of his sous chef, a wonderful look at true Mexican cooking,and Bourdain's regret and acceptance over a pig being slaughtered for his benefit in Portugal are all wonderful examples of how well Bourdain can tell a story. Bourdain constantly entertains and intrigues with his willingness to describe the food, the people, and most comically, the TV Food Network's attempts to "spice" (sorry) things up. Much more thoughtful than the "in your face" approach of KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL, A COOK'S TOUR succeeds as a culinary adventure, with an intelligent and thoughful guide, who realizes that "Perfect, like happy, sneaks up on you."
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Summary: Hilarious read from a no holds barred New Yorker
Review: Anthony Bourdain goes on a world tour in search of the "perfect meal". He goes from the culinary delights of the French Laundry in Napa Valley, California to eating iguana in Mexico (not good).He has a very good self-effacing writing style, even when he is at the French Laundry, having the best restaurant meal of his life he finds it a bitter sweet experience as being a chef himself he could never reach the creativity of the meal in front of him.
The experience in Portugal is interesting as he watches the slaughter of a pig and he loves Vietnam.
All in all an excellent and entertaining read for food and travel lovers.
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Summary: A Fun Read With Some Minor Flaws
Review: A Fun Read With Some Minor Flaws Tony Bourdain's "A Cook's Tour" is a fun book to read. I plowed through it voraciously in a matter of days. I watched the companion series on the Food Network and enjoyed it thoroughly. I was concerned that the book would be a mere rehashing of the series and was relieved and pleased to find this was not the case. Tony's adventures are well written and his humor comes through loud and clear. I particularly liked the chapters on Vietnam and Russia, probably because he enjoyed those countries so much. His return with his brother to his ancestral village in France is also a well-written and intriguing episode in the book. The book suffers somewhat from a lack of cohesion. The book has a number of chapters on Vietnam, but it breaks them up with chapters about other countries. For me, this was rather jarring. It was exacerbated by the lack of any kind of introduction or segue between the chapters. At times, it felt like I was reading a series of magazine articles that had been compiled, rather than a book which was conceived as a whole. At times, he also lets his preconceptions of a country get in the way of his gaining a better understanding of its cuisine - Morocco and Cambodia being cases in point. The other complaint I have about the book is his repeated tirades against vegetarians (full disclosure: I am a longtime lacto-ovo vegetarian). He is certainly entitled to his opinion, but I think that three or four separate tirades on the subject in a slime volume is rather much. I find his primary complaint, that vegetarians are ruining cuisine, to be absurd. At the end of one of his invectives, he concludes the enemy of real cuisine is fast food and overly processed food, which is probably closer to the mark. All in all, it is a fascinating book even with its flaws. As Tony notes, simple food, honestly prepared, is often the most pleasurable, whether it is a spring roll wrapped in lettuce with basil or a dumpling followed by a shot of vodka. I really enjoyed most of "A Cook's Tour", and I do owe Tony a debt for improving my cooking with his recommendations from his book "Kitchen Confidential" - using shallots and finishing dishes off with butter. And if he would like a wonderful food experience which happens to be vegetarian, all he has to do is stroll down to Hangawi on East 32nd Street for an amazing dining experience, honestly and simply prepared.
Rating: 
Summary: Not My Cup of Tea
Review: I almost gave the book two stars but the one or two good belly laughs I got from some of Tony's adventures came to mind, causing me to have mercy on the guy. For the most part, however, I found the book a disappointment. I didn't read Bourdain's first work so I didn't know what to expect. The title is misleading. "A Cook's Tour" comes across more as an excuse for the author to travel to exotic places on someone else's dime. Contrary to the premise of finding the perfect meal, it seems that Tony took the Food Network up on the opportunity to play around in far-flung locales he's always wanted to visit. The chapter on dining in France at a beach resort he remembered from childhood was only interesting in the context that he described in his introduction. What makes a perfect meal? It's not only ingredients and preparation. It's atmosphere, nostalgia, expectation, memory, etc. His first stop, Portugal, lived up to the book's stated mission. He quickly lost focus, however. What does a potentially dangerous trip up a Cambodian river to the gangster-run town of Pailin have to do with "the perfect meal?" Predictably he found nothing there but second rate Thai food. A Russian mafia club? A Mexican hotel's iguana mascot? The much talked about beating cobra's heart? It's a travelogue of the outrageous and atrocious. Searching for the perfect meal would entail research, attention to detail, seriousness and lengthy tours through New Orleans, in my humble opinion. Profanity, descriptions of illegal drug use, in countries where you could do some serious Third World hard time, and drunken stumbles through foreign capitals don't cut it in my book. Sorry. Some chapters I skimmed through after tiring of the incessant ranting.
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Summary: Inspirational, exciting
Review: I'm left feeling jet-lagged, hungover and somewhat as if I got eaten myself after reading this fantastic book. Accompanied by the Food Network series, where more of Anthony's personality comes across, this book delivers what foodies and travel buffs want. Anthony, you are the Steve McQueen of food/travel gurus. For those who don't get it, that's a huge accolade.
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Summary: Highly recommended vicarious romp!
Review: I enjoyed this book so much, it was very refreshing to read a no-b.s. first-person account of an interesting journey. Bordain offers up the best kind of combination in a person/author: experience mixed with freshness and honesty. He gives you his thoughts uncensored, and he's as sensitive as he is tough. He's also very funny. His tour takes us on a walk through different cultures, with food being the glue that binds us. We all eat, but wow, how differently in some cases. It's true, this book is not about "a perfect meal" in the simplistic sense (entree-starch-veg, anyone?). He explains this concept from the get-go. A perfect meal always depends on a variety of external factors that are often surprising and usually out of our control. The memorable moments of life, which happen to be experienced at table. His thoughtful account of his trips to Japan, Morocco, Portugal, and other, more far-flug places, tell us about the people, their traditions, and their values glimpsed through their eating habits. I thought his choice of trips was perfect, and loved all the details he shares. His trip back to France with his brother was touching. Bordain's observations are often funny, sometimes sad, always forthright. For me, another 1/2 Euro/1/2 Yank, it is facsinating to compare life around the world to life in America, with mixed results. Here, on the downside, we may have nearly lost our connections to our food, our families, and our communities, but on the upside, you're not likely to find a killing farm retreat, or kids working all night, shuttling drunks, for three bucks. I learned a lot from this book, it was really entertaining and interesting. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: Adventures in paradox
Review: Tony has a few little twitches, doesn't he? He (quite rightly) disdains vegetarianism and the PETA folks, but he's not all that comfortable actually watching a pig or cobra or something get whacked. And it's a bit ironic that having (apparently) gotten over or at least past hard drugs, he's still a smoker. Oh, well. He still writes like Hunter Thomson without (most of) the mind altering rubbish, and ah, does he know food and cooks. Whatever you think of Chef Bourdain, you can't call yourself a cook or a gourmand unless you've read him.
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