Strange Foods

December 15, 1999
Even the most omnivorous gourmands may find something exceeding their bounds in this excellent survey of the world's most uncommon foods. Hopkins describes in detail and gives recipes for eating dogs, cats, bats, spiders, scorpions, worms, urine, reproductive organs, humans, and a host of other unmentionables, animal, vegetable, and mineral. Ingestion of most of these "foods" is geographically limited, but every culture has some odd comestible. In some instances, such as the Pathans' consumption of water buffalo, feasting has a religious dimension. Some may find West Africans' consumption of "bush meat" (primates, including chimpanzees and gorillas) distasteful on more than aesthetic grounds. Photographs (by Freeman) of sliced whale on sale in Japanese markets will offend yet more conservationists. Hopkins closes the book with an essay on eating dirt. Despite obvious sensational aspects, this well-illustrated book makes an excellent addition to library collections for its accessible treatment of food taboos. ((Reviewed December 15, 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)