A Moveable Feast

While brains fulfill the nutritional needs of zombies and other such creatures, the brain also needs to be nourished and fed. However, the brain is not the mouth, and it cannot eat such foods as a rare runny steak, a juicy strawberry or a grilled swordfish. A brain eats through intellectual nourishment, from the (dreaded) television, movies, and books.

When the brain loves food, (it can enjoy knowing of it even if it cannot crush the meat with it's teeth or savour spiciness on its tongue) many hours can be consumed reading and watching about ways to better satisfy those delightful sense organs. However, while some of my friends can watch the food network for hours on end, my desire is not so much to know how food is made, but to feel the food in my inner being. Stories of food are what I love.

They say you should write the book (or blog) that you would want to read, but unfortunately for me the book I want to read has already been written: Lonley Planet's A Moveable Feast: Life-Changing Food Adventures From Around the World. Thanks for stealing my idea, Lonely Planet. But never fear, I am not one to hold a grudge or pine away the hours thinking about the millions I could have made compiling a book of short stories about memorable food experiences.

I first picked up the book about a year and a half ago, before my obsession with food adventure had begun, but I did want to travel and it seemed like a fun concept, but not worth the $16.99. Luckily I had a wonderful boyfriend at the time who noticed my snooping and got it for me for my birthday a couple months later. I was excited and delighted but still it sat on my shelf for months, being brushed aside by such classical authors as Dickens, Austen, and Rowling. Finally I took a vacation with my family, and threw the book in my bag, excited to read a book on travel while traveling (I really enjoy it when my life is like the books and movies I am reading/watching).  I began A Moveable Feast by flipping to the stories in locations that are on my 'to visit' list, but within two days I had read the whole thing front to back. The stories range from top class dining with A Pilgrimage to El Bulli, To rare and strange cultural food experiences (like a fresh mango in the African desert, or Bat testicles...). The various authors weave tales of food that in the end somehow manage not to be so much about food, but about the way food and mealtime can act as a bridge between cultures or lead to the creation of lifelong friendships.

The most disappointing part of the book is that so many of the stories are highly personal and achieved somehow through luck and journalistic cunning, so many of the experiences could not be recreated on my own travels. At least I can always live vicariously through the stories in this book whenever my brain is feeling a little munchy.

You can also find the e-book version here