A journalist and blogger takes us on a colorful and spicy gastronomic
tour through Viet Nam in this entertaining, offbeat travel memoir, with
a foreword by Anthony Bourdain.
Growing up in a small town in northern England, Graham Holliday wasn't
keen on travel. But in his early twenties, a picture of Hanoi sparked a
curiosity that propelled him halfway across the globe. Graham didn't
want to be a tourist in an alien land, though; he was determined to live
it. An ordinary guy who liked trying interesting food, he moved to the
capital city and embarked on a quest to find real Vietnamese food. In
Eating Viet Nam, he chronicles his odyssey in this strange, enticing
land infused with sublime smells and tastes.
Traveling through the back alleys and across the boulevards of
Hanoi--where home cooks set up grills and stripped-down stands serving
sumptuous fare on blue plastic furniture--he risked dysentery, giardia,
and diarrhea to discover a culinary treasure-load that was truly foreign
and unique. Holliday shares every bite of the extraordinary fresh
dishes, pungent and bursting with flavor, which he came to love in
Hanoi, Saigon, and the countryside. Here, too, are the remarkable people
who became a part of his new life, including his wife, Sophie.
A feast for the senses, funny, charming, and always delicious, Eating
Viet Nam will inspire armchair travelers, curious palates, and everyone
itching for a taste of adventure.
