Eat My Globe
When Simon Majumdar hit forty, he realized there had to be more to life than his stable but uninspiring desk job.
As he wondered how to escape his career, he rediscovered a list of goals he had scrawled out years before, the last of which said: Go everywhere, eat everything. With that, he had found his mission -- a yearlong search for the delicious, and curious, and the curiously delicious, which he names Eat My Globe and memorably chronicles in these pages.
In Majumdar's world, food is everything. Like every member of his family, he has a savant's memory for meals, with instant recall of dishes eaten decades before. Simon's unstoppable wit and passion for all things edible (especially those things that once had eyes, and a face, and a mom and a pop) makes this an armchair traveler's and foodie's delight -- Majumdar does all the heavy lifting, eats the heavy foods (and suffers the weighty consequences), so you don't have to.
He jets to thirty countries in just over twelve months, diving mouth-first into local cuisines and cultures as different as those of Japan and Iceland. His journey takes him from China, where he consumes one of his "Top Ten Worst Eats," stir-fried rat, to the United States, where he glories in our greatest sandwiches: the delectable treasures of Katz's Delicatessen in Manhattan, BBQ in Kansas and Texas, the still-rich po' boys of post-Katrina New Orleans.
The meat of the story -- besides the peerless ham in Spain, the celebrated steaks of Argentina, the best of Münich's wursts as well as their descendants, the famous hot dogs of Chicago -- is the friends that Simon makes as he eats. They are as passionate about food as he is and are eager to welcome him to their homes and tables, share their choicest meals, and reveal their local secrets.
Also a poignant memoir, Eat My Globe is a life told through food and spiced with Majumdar's remembrances of foods past, including those from his colorful childhood. (Raised in Northern England, he is the son of a fiery Welsh nurse and a distinguished Bengali surgeon.) A captivating look at one man's passion for food, family, and unique life experiences, Eat My Globe will make you laugh -- while it makes you hungry. It is sure to satiate any gastronome obsessed with globetrotting -- for now.
Reviews
"What makes 'Eat My Globe' such a pleasure is that Simon Majumdar seeks not only to saturate himself with sensations but to soak up the significance of every bite he takes along the way. His driving passion is fueled by a kind of knowing naïveté that allows him to marvel at discoveries both great and small. As a result, “Globe” is critical yet enthusiastic, worldly yet humble, and so much fun you’ll want to go buy yourself a big red suitcase." -- Alton Brown
"I have met very few people in my lifetime who are as passionate about food as Simon. Eat My Globe takes you on a vividly descriptive culinary tour. His very personal, unapologetic writing style is not only brilliant but extremely entertaining. If you are a lover of food and hater of bullshit this is a must read." -- Iron Chef, Michael Symon
"True to Simon’s enthusiastic, opinionated, knowledgeable personality, EAT MY GLOBE is filled with good one- liners that made me laugh out loud. But I’m determined to convert him to a love of pizza." -- Donatella Arpaia, author of Donatella Cooks
"EAT MY GLOBE is part travelogue, part personal memoir, part food journal and part performance art, as Simon Majumdar travels the planet and consumes the full spectrum of cuisine – from the haute to the horrifying – establishing himself as the Indiana Jones for the foodie set." -- Andrew Friedman, co-editor of DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME
"Simon adores pulled pork, yet pulls no punches in this passionate, refreshingly honest and delicious journey. Travelling with him on his gut-busting world tour is a rollicking good time… Read only with a well-stocked fridge; you’ll get hungry." -- Kathleen Flinn, author of THE SHARPER YOUR KNIFE, THE LESS YOU CRY
"EAT MY GLOBE is a culinary tour de force that mixes an infectious enthusiasm for the world of food with a celebration of the people who prepare it. Majumdar is without question the world’s most enthusiastic gourmet. His love of eating – or rather, feasting – is so infectious that we never turned a page without feeling an overwhelming urge to eat great food, roam the Earth, and read another page." -- Andrew Rimas and Evan Fraser, authors of BEEF
"A snappy and entertaining book… although this is an account of Majumdar’s international love affair with food, it’s his deep affection for those with who he shares it that really nourishes the soul." -- London Daily Telegraph
"Ballsy, often hilarious . . . His experiences and descriptions, however brief, of the global gastronomic sublime, such as his sunset supper in the Filipino countryside, are appetite-whetting, and his take-no-prisoners attitude and opinions match the project’s ambitions. He champions street-food surprises over more urbane examples of cuisine, while his affection and gratitude for the individuals and families met and the hospitality received amply humanized both his wanderings and writings. Majumdar’s comic-yet-brazen voice carries the reader swiftly and winningly from foul to fowl in a book that’s funny and delectable." -- Publishers Weekly
"Excellent foodie travel memoir … Majumdar is often genuinely funny and can spin a good story … highly readable, and often highly entertaining but to be avoided if you are on a diet." -- Clover Stroud, Sunday Telegraph
"A snappy and entertaining book… although this is an account of Majumdar’s international love affair with food, it’s his deep affection for those with who he shares it that really nourishes the soul." - London Daily Telegraph
"One for serious foodies… Majumdar successfully brings to life the tastes and experiences associated with his global quest… but this book takes the reader way beyond that…" -- Adventure Travel
Buying Eat My Globe
Buy US Edition
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Free Press; Reprint Edition (2010)
ISBN-10: 1416576037
ISBN-13: 978-1416576037
Buy UK Edition
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: John Murray (2009)
ISBN-10: 071952024X
ISBN-13: 978-0719520242
