"Culinary Holy Grail"...? (Parte Deux)

       The first half of Bourdain's book was, for me, in no way a chore to read...and this second half was just as interesting. His descriptive imagery really got the ball rolling at "Highway of Death"; his suspenseful depiction of Highway 1 made me absolutely terrified to ever even think about traveling on that road. Something small he mentioned after leaving the highway was during the section on the My Kanh Restaurant -- disturbing as it was that the customers actually picked dishes made from cute little animals that would then be slaughtered right then and there, I actually had an experience eating one of the animals he mentioned and had a similar reaction to his. While visiting Michigan a few years ago, my family and I had dinner with some friends and we were shocked to find out that we would be having frog for dinner. Frog legs, more specifically. The idea absolutely horrified me, and as I watched the legs being turned on the grill, I thought that there was no way I would ever, ever, ever touch those, let alone put them in my mouth. Eventually, I ended up trying them, because I didn't want to offend our friends by refusing to eat at all -- and they actually tasted pretty good! Like chicken...?
        The Vietnam section really intrigued me, mostly because of his descriptions of the "floating food vendors". The idea of lounging on a boat, drifting down a river, and sampling all kinds of colorfully displayed and delicious food from boats that came up alongside me...that sounded pretty snazzy. This was also the first time when I really got the feeling that Bourdain was truly content, really happy -- he ends the chapter with, "I like it here. I like it a lot." And I had the feeling that so would I, if I ever get the chance to visit this place.
        In the first half of the book, I guess I was reading with a different mindset than most of the class was; I was reading him as less of an authority figure and more of a guy having an experience. This time around I tried to read him as an authority figure, and I guess I was just ignorant in the first half of the book because he definitely is. One part that really exemplified this for me was when he played up his presumed authority in Tokyo, as he's describing Tsukiji and the wonderful seafood extravaganza they possess. Multiple times he tells us we have to "take his word for it", and that "there is nowhere else" to go besides this place. Here, I found myself taking his word for it, trusting him because he IS a well known chef; I found myself believing his reliability, a reliability that wasn't definite by any means, but that was created in my mind.
       One random thing I wondered about while reading this half of the book was whether or not I would be able to eat something and truly think it was good, if it had the foulest, dankest smell imaginable. We kind of talked about this in class, how some of us smell things before eating them because it almost enhances how good we think it tastes; Anthony Bourdain talks about eating the stinky durian fruit, a fruit that possesses a smell similar to that of a rotting corpse and molding cheese. However, he loved how it tasted. I wondered if I would be able to truly think something tasted wonderful, if it smelled like a dead body or worse; could I be able to truly distinguish between smell and taste, or do they always combine in my mind -- if I smelled rotting corpse, would that make the taste of it worse in turn, or would the taste not depend on the smell at all?
       Bourdain talks more about vegetarianism in this half of the book; I knew he disliked the idea of vegetarianism, but I thought, he is a cook, so this might just be for show and deep down he probably respects the idea of personal preference. This assumption of mine was incorrect as usual -- he literally hates vegetarianism, and downright loathes vegans. He actually compares vegetarianism to the "Safety and Ethics" people that are trying to make us healthy by taking the real food out of food (which obviously makes us more unhealthy). I found myself laughing out loud during the section when he dines with the groups of vegans -- his horror when describing the food was hilarious. But later he gets pretty livid when calling out the vegans on their lifestyle choices, portraying them as hypocritical, ignorant human beings. I could see where he was coming from, but I thought this part was maybe bit over the top...
       My overall opinion: the book was great, full of voice and wonderful descriptive imagery; and even though he comes off a bit insensitive at times, I did find myself liking Bourdain and his ability to make fun of himself and the situation. Also, I want to go everywhere that he described. Except maybe Pailin.