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Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer's Guide (Atlas Obscura)
A New York Times, USA Today, and national indie bestseller.
A Feast of Wonder!
Created by the ever-curious minds behind Atlas Obscura, this breathtaking guide transforms our sense of what people around the world eat and drink. Covering all seven continents, Gastro Obscura serves up a loaded plate of incredible ingredients, food adventures, and edible wonders. Ready for a beer made from fog in Chile? Sardinia’s “Threads of God” pasta? Egypt’s 2000-year-old egg ovens? But far more than a menu of curious minds delicacies and unexpected dishes, Gastro Obscura reveals food’s central place in our lives as well as our bellies, touching on history–trace the network of ancient Roman fish sauce factories. Culture–picture four million women gathering to make rice pudding. Travel–scale China’s sacred Mount Hua to reach a tea house. Festivals–feed wild macaques pyramid of fruit at Thailand’s Monkey Buffet Festival. And hidden gems that might be right around the corner, like the vending machine in Texas dispensing full sized pecan pies. Dig in and feed your sense of wonder.
“Like a great tapas meal, Gastro Obscura is deep yet snackable, and full of surprises. This is the book for anyone interested in eating, adventure and the human condition.” –Tom Colicchio, chef and activist
“This exquisite guide kept me at the breakfast table until dinner time.” –Kyle Maclachlan, actor and vintner
Editorial Reviews
"You cannot help but be drawn to Gastro Obscura." -The New York Times
"For the traveler or foodie, this coffee table book can transport them around the world with wonderful stories and photos that will leave their stomachs grumbling-all without ever leaving the couch." -Food 52
"[A]n enticing read for anyone who is curious about the world. Like a five-star hotel's platter-stacked buffet artfully arranged to please the eye and palate, Gastro Obscura stimulates aplenty, with hundreds of rich morsels to peruse and savor." -Forbes.com
"An incredible celebration of diversity in food" -Wine Enthusiast
"[An] encyclopedic odyssey... This compendium is a must-have." -Publishers Weekly, starred review
"[Gastro Obscura is a] hard-to-put-down book... Pick a region, pick a page-you can't go wrong. Armchair travelers and foodies will be left hungry, nostalgic, more knowledgeable about dishes from all over, and, most importantly, ready to try something different, whether it's found around the corner or across the world."-Library Journal
"Irresistible." -Booklist "A tome to be savored" - Foreward Reviews
"This captivating book celebrates the incredible global diversity of food, ingredients, and cooking practices. What could be more important in this moment in time than to be so delightfully engaged in the many ways food cultivates-through sometimes eccentric means!-a profound sense of togetherness." -Alice Waters, chef and author of We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto
"An ambitious, exciting, and zany anthology of heritage foodways, Gastro Obscura tells the stories no one else is telling. In creating a magnum opus that manages to be simultaneously daring as well as fundamentally delicious, this is a culinary high-wire act of culinary anthropology that delivers on its promise and then some. A must-read for anyone who eats." -Dan Barber, chef and author of The Third Plate
"This book is an incredible celebration of diversity – the many fascinating ways that humanity has figured out how to feed itself. To me, it is really about preservation, the power and importance of remembering old customs and local traditions in order to help us better understand our world today … and into the future." -José Andrés, chef, restaurateur, and founder of World Central Kitchen
"Like a great tapas meal, Gastro Obscura is deep yet snackable, and full of surprises. In these pages, you'll find riveting stories of human culture ancient and present, history, climat...
"For the traveler or foodie, this coffee table book can transport them around the world with wonderful stories and photos that will leave their stomachs grumbling-all without ever leaving the couch." -Food 52
"[A]n enticing read for anyone who is curious about the world. Like a five-star hotel's platter-stacked buffet artfully arranged to please the eye and palate, Gastro Obscura stimulates aplenty, with hundreds of rich morsels to peruse and savor." -Forbes.com
"An incredible celebration of diversity in food" -Wine Enthusiast
"[An] encyclopedic odyssey... This compendium is a must-have." -Publishers Weekly, starred review
"[Gastro Obscura is a] hard-to-put-down book... Pick a region, pick a page-you can't go wrong. Armchair travelers and foodies will be left hungry, nostalgic, more knowledgeable about dishes from all over, and, most importantly, ready to try something different, whether it's found around the corner or across the world."-Library Journal
"Irresistible." -Booklist "A tome to be savored" - Foreward Reviews
"This captivating book celebrates the incredible global diversity of food, ingredients, and cooking practices. What could be more important in this moment in time than to be so delightfully engaged in the many ways food cultivates-through sometimes eccentric means!-a profound sense of togetherness." -Alice Waters, chef and author of We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto
"An ambitious, exciting, and zany anthology of heritage foodways, Gastro Obscura tells the stories no one else is telling. In creating a magnum opus that manages to be simultaneously daring as well as fundamentally delicious, this is a culinary high-wire act of culinary anthropology that delivers on its promise and then some. A must-read for anyone who eats." -Dan Barber, chef and author of The Third Plate
"This book is an incredible celebration of diversity – the many fascinating ways that humanity has figured out how to feed itself. To me, it is really about preservation, the power and importance of remembering old customs and local traditions in order to help us better understand our world today … and into the future." -José Andrés, chef, restaurateur, and founder of World Central Kitchen
"Like a great tapas meal, Gastro Obscura is deep yet snackable, and full of surprises. In these pages, you'll find riveting stories of human culture ancient and present, history, climat...
Readers Top Reviews
R. Gilbert
I always love Atlas Obscura publications - they're well-researched, well-written, and entertaining. I noted another review stating that this is not a cookbook; that's true! This definitely is not. I'd also say that it's not the type of book you read page-by-page per se, but rather one you pick up and go through bit by bit. I dove in the second mine arrived in the mail and have already found a lot of really interesting tidbits (and a familiar local favorite appeared in one section, tickling me pink). The book itself is a nice size if you like having interesting coffeet table books out that people will actually want to pick up and leaf through. What I appreciate most about Atlas Obscura is that it's so reader-guided; readers submit locations to the site, and readers give suggestions ultimately used as part of the book as well. You feel a little more connected to what's listed because of that; these are delicacies and locations someone has gone to, enjoyed, and cared about enough to mention those to others. I also feel that you can trust that what is mentioned for locations feels truly authentic to the area, and all of what's there is folded in well with informative and interesting research into local culture. I'll be enjoying this book for a while to come.
Paul Robeson
At first glance this is special. Upon opening, it gets better and better. You want to know and to have known everything in these pages. (I have read half, not that I expected to devour so much so soon.) It is amazing how much I do not know, and already I am making lists of who to give this epic yet cozy work to for the holidays. The writing is so engaging, light and scintillating, and the organization so natural, it moves me. What an incredible production. Thanks to the writers and what must be a vast team of brave people.
michelle
This isn’t the kind of book you read in one sitting. This is the kind of book you pick up over and over again, and even again to reference before taking a trip. It makes an amazing gift for any food- or travel-lover in your life, but make sure to get one for yourself as well, because every page holds beautifully written delights.
Left Coast
This book is even better than I had dreamt it would be. It is beautifully designed, smart, thrilling to read as it is full of gastronomical , historical and geographical wonders. Every host these holidays and all of my family is going to be gifted this gorgeous and lovingly researched book. I have hundreds of cooking related books, know my stuff, and as I said, WOW!
C
This unique book takes you all over the world as it covers historical information as well as interesting food recommendations in many different countries. The book is divided into sections by geographic region: Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, Canada, The United States, Latin America, and Antarctica. The regions are further divided into areas, and then specific chapters on places in that area. ( ie – The US has a subsection for New England, which contains chapters on Connecticut and Maine etc.) Most chapters are focused on a specific food from a specific place in the world. The authors write a few paragraphs explaining the history of that food in that area, and then there is a “How to try it” section where they give suggestions on where to go if you want to sample this food yourself. There are also extra chapters that deal with more general information; like “Table etiquette in the Victorian Age”, which describes specialized utensils like ice-cream forks and mustache cups. There are also plenty of beautiful pictures; showing images of the foods, pictures of the historical places, old photos, advertisements, and more. There are mini chapters about “Food Pioneers” like Tom Carvel and Sina Gerard, and even some recipes included throughout the book. Overall I really enjoyed this book, and I'm sure I will be referring to it in the future if it ever becomes easier to travel again to some of these places. There is a ton of interesting information here, and great suggestions for the adventurous food aficionado. This is a great combination of history book and food/travel guide, and I appreciate the authors collecting all of this obscure information in one place.
