A true foodie spends every moment thinking about food and planning his next meal. True to form whenever I find a spare moment my nose will be deep in some or other cooking magazine or book, devouring every word, whether it’s on the train, in the bath or on the loo (I don’t think you needed to know that, but now you do). Most recently, I’ve read Don’t Try This At Home: Culinary Catastrophes from the World’s Greatest Chefs
Right after reading the first few pages I realised the title of this book is misleading. The subtitle reads, Culinary Catastrophes from the World’s Greatest Cooks and Chefs. Call me stupid, but I somehow had the expectation that I will read famous chefs’ accounts of how they have learnt from dumb mistakes they’ve made in the kitchen. It will make me, a mere mortal, feel better about myself. But alas, 50% of them can do no wrong or so they would like us to believe.
A lot of the stories were snore fests and it is apparent why they became chefs and not authors. With that said I’ve learnt of a few new names in the culinary world I didn’t know about. Also, as many of you already know, Anthony Bourdain is an excellent writer and I definitely want to get my hands on his books in the near future.
Did I learn anything from reading it? Nope. Value for money? Nope. (Heh, at least I got it from the library. Phew.) The feeling I get is that the editors of the book just came up with the idea on a rainy day, pestered the chefs for a piece of writing, slapped everything together and published the train wreck, thinking and hoping the money will pour in based on the famous names mentioned on the cover. Pffft.
To Summarise
Momentarily entertaining, utterly forgettable.
Don’t bother.
