Unmentionable Cuisine

When I found this book I did a sanity check. I looked up a couple of recipies learned from my stay in the Phillipines. Sure enought they were both there and accurate - balot - a fertilized duck egg, and aso sena - dog stew. I have cooked a few recipes from this book, but mainly it is a great conversation piece, and just a fun read. Where else can you read about preparing armadillo on the half shell, or grubs.One interesting feature is that the book is indexed both by main ingredient and by country. Who is the best represented? - France and China.

I bought this book as part of my research for a college course/textbook on human interactions with animals. I'm a good cook, and broad-minded, so I tried quite a few of the recipes (the book has many excellent recipes for the "cheaper cuts" of conventional meat animals, and we have a butcher nearby that sells many of them), not just exotic ones (so our dog can relax!). All of the recipes I've tried have been winners!Our local supermarket recently started selling frozen octopus, and both of the recipes we've tried have been hits. My wife HATES molluscs because of the texture, but she found eating octopus to be "like eating cheese". I like eating octopus because it not only tastes good, but most only live a couple of years and then die after reproducing.All in all, a great book (and the only one of my reference books that I keep in the kitchen!). Buy it!

From a wide variety of ways to cook beef brains to roasted grasshoppers, this book has it all. Although some recipies may cause people some pause (there is an entire chapter on dogs and cats), even these show how limited Americans are in their eating choices. It begs the question, why are some animals only for pets and others only for food? Thought provoking with some truly excellent recipies, this book can do more than just shock and inform.

This author knows cooking. You will find reliable ingredient list and techniques for preparing authentic dishes from around the world. I have had a copy since the early eighties, I believe, and find it an excellent resource for most any dish I can think of. I learned to use chicken feet and fish heads for soup stock, both of which are overlooked by many, except the commercial manufacturers. The commentary is wonderful and enlightening. This is a cookbook and a resource for any serious cook. If I had one cookbook, this would be it.

A fun introduction to foods that we do not usually think of as comestible. No recipes for newt eyes though, but there are recipes for mice, rats, grasshoppers and pretty much anything else that can creep, crawl or walk. People in other parts of the world make do and enjoy many items that may be very tasty which we would abhor the thought of even eating, even when faced with starvation. French fries and hamburgers aren't everything.