ottawa foodies

Hi!

I was wondering if anyone could give me suggestions on good books to buy..
I just finished reading Anthony Bourdain's "cook's tour" (i also read his Kitchen confidential and Nasty bits) and these are the kind of books i really love. To give you an idea, i also enjoyed Michael Ruhlman's "the Making of a chef".

Any suggestions? :)

Got a couple of suggestions:

Jamie's Italy -- Jamie Oliver
Red, White and Drunk all Over; A Wine-Soaked Journey From Grape to Glass -- Natalie McLean
Heat: An Amateur's Adventures As Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany -- Bill Buford (This one is on my Christmas list)
Omnivore's Dilemma -- Michael Pollan
Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia -- Jeffrey Alford & Naomi Duguid

There's a book called "Don't Try This At Home", which is a compliation of several chefs (including Anthony Bourdin BTW)telling of thier worst ever culinary disasters. I got it to Christmas last year and it is EXCELLENT. It book was what inspired me to got to cooking school.

Great post by the way - I LOVE culinary litterature.

I find Jeffrey Steingarten's books very amusing, and he does a good job of telling some of the history behind certain foods or culinary traditions. The first was 'The Man Who Ate Everything' and the second was 'It Must Have Been Something I Ate'.

I read Eating Crow by Jay Rayner a while ago and it was pretty funny. Not strictly about food but food was integral to the story. A food critic becomes an international(UN) apologist after one of his reviews results in a chef taking his own life. Rayner is actually a food critic himself.

Here's another one that I browsed when I was in Chapters the other day that looked quite interesting. It's a combination travelogue and cookbook.

The Hairy Bikers Cookbook -- Dave Myers

Thanks for the suggestions folks, i'll definitely try some of those books :)

This might not be quite along the lines of what you were thinking about, but.

I've been big on Victorian domestic science for a longish time now, and I still enjoy the recipes. There's a lot of inedible junk, of course, but now and then you stumble on something like battered and fried orange segments, and it makes it all worthwhile.

So: Mrs Beeton's. Every cook should have one. And don't hesitate to fork out for any interesting-looking vintage cookbook. (Though ones in shabby condition should not cost more than $30.) Hey, if you don't like it, simply sell it to me! The old stuff invariably has a lot more than just recipes, so it ends up being a sort of inadvertent biography of cooks in days past. The BBC did a series on Victorian kitchens some years ago, and put out a book called "The Victorian Kitchen," which was quite good.

Admittedly a bit twee as interests/hobbies go.

More along the lines of what you're looking for might be Jamie Oliver. My, that boy can ramble...

If you really love cooking, and you want to know everything there is to know about the it, then you must buy The Culinary Institute of America's : The Professional Chef. It has everything. Different cuts of lamb, pork, beef, chiken, how to make stocks, how to make "pate a choux", etc. You name it, it has it. Another cool book is How I Learned To Cook. It's stories about a whole bunch of professional chefs, including Anthony Bourdain (you mentioned his name, I believe), and how they developped their passion for cooking. And finally, Larousse Gastronomique. It's literally the end-all be-all of French cooking techniques. Hope I could shed some light.

Update: After "Food is hot" recommended it, i bought the book "don't try this at home" and i just finished reading it.. it's very good.

Thanks to all for the suggestions, i might pick up one or 2 more books this week. I'm going to be in Montréal on friday, i might also pick up the "pied de cochon" book.

Glad you liked it! The last time I was in Chapters, I noticed that the same editors have released a second volume which features chefs stories of how they learned to cook. Didn't pick it up yet, but looking forward to it.

I'm currently re-reading one of my favourites which you should give a try if you're looking for something a little different. It's called "Habeas Codfish - Reflections on Food and the Law" by Barry M. Levenson. It goes through various aspects of food law including advertising, labels, foriegn objects found in food, pakaging rotten meat etc. and discusses specific cases in detail including the McDonald's coffee incident, Oprah vs the beef industry, Mr. Peanut vs. Peanut King, Pizza Hut vs. Papa John's etc, plus a variety of other interesting cases and verdicts. The way it's written is very accesible and amusing - not just dry law essays or anything. Very interesting!

If any of you liked Bourdain's _Kitchen Confidential_, you might enjoy the books that inspired it: Nicolas Freeling's _The Kitchen Book_ and _The Cook Book_. The two are available in one volume via the OPL. Also, Orwell's _Down and Out In Paris and London_, specifically the Paris section.

Other foodie books I have read recently:

Pig perfect : encounters with remarkable swine and some great ways to cook them / Kaminsky, Peter

The raw and the cooked : adventures of a roving gourmand / Jim Harrison.

Fork it over : the intrepid adventures of a professional eater / Alan Richman.

Garlic and sapphires : the secret life of a critic in disguise / Ruth Reichl.

I know there have been more, just can't think right now!

Thank you SteffQc for your review of pied de cochon book. It's one of my favourite restaurants but I was unaware of this publication. To pick it up.