Dirty Mouth, Perfect Meal

            I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of A Cook’s Tour, mainly due to the style of writing that Anthony Bourdain uses but also because of the content.  I have been told that I have a very “dirty” mouth and so reading an author who writes as, I imagine, he would speak was really refreshing and made me feel better about my curse word usage.  I felt like I was able to grasp his personality and his emotions much more clearly than if he had edited himself.  However, when Bourdain talks about food, he becomes a whole new writer.  Everything is immensely descriptive and I got hungry just reading his eloquent and complete descriptions.  This change in style helped me to connect with Bourdain even more because I imagine him being a crazy, drunk middle-aged man but when he steps into the kitchen he transforms.

            I liked all of the chapters in this section, but the one that I connected with the most was the chapter about his trip to France.  Bourdain goes to France searching for “the perfect meal,” but soon realizes the real reason he went was to experience a feeling that he had as a child.  However, he discovers that without his father there he can’t enjoy France like he used to, even when eating the most perfect oyster. 

This chapter brought me back to our discussions about how food is more than just the physical thing.  It is the experience surrounding it and the people you are with.  For me, Christmas breakfast is a perfect example.  My family and I always have pancakes and sausage, and they are probably the best pancakes and sausage ever made.  However, any other times during the year these pancakes and sausage probably wouldn’t taste that great.  Next year when I am on study abroad, I know that my Christmas breakfast will not be the same, even if I manage to find pancakes and sausage wherever I am, because I won’t be with my family.

            Another aspect that I connected with was his relationship with his brother.  My brothers are four and five years older than me, so when we were younger I would always be the one to tattle on them.  We still got along, but it was very much like what Bourdain described.  Now, we talk all the time and are really great friends.  Bourdain realizes, finally, that his little brother can be a friend and one of the only people who understand how much he misses his father.

            This is just one part of the story that is unfolding about finding “the perfect meal,” but I think we will find (as cliché as it is) that this is more a story of finding ones self.  On a side note: I am so happy that I never saw this show, I feel like it would ruin the book for me!  Has anyone seen the show?  How is it affecting your reading experience?