Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations - The title of this book is a mouthful in itself, but having just heard the author, Chris Fair on KCRW's Good Food show I can't wait to get hold of this publication. Foreign affairs analyst Chris Fair is now a cookbook author. North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Israel, China, Pakistan, and the United States. Her recently released book Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States offers a history of each nation's geopolitical sins, followed by regional recipes like Palestinian casserole or in the case of the U.S., beer butt chicken. As she points out, food has always been a metaphor for foreign identity, and it's at dinner parties where we discuss politics.
With Iran high up the list of possible destinations for The Hungry Cyclist in the future, I will be taking this to bed with me soon. You can read an extract below, or listen to the author Chris Fair, on KCRW. A review will follow soon.
Here's an excerpt from the intriguingly titled book that has got my juices flowing.
"While most folks recognize the power of food to bring people together, I notice most its power to divide. Many religions enshrine various forms of commensalisms, or rules that govern with whom you can eat and with whom you cannot. In Hinduism, high-caste persons can't eat in the presence of those who are low caste, whose very shadow defiles the former. Many religions specify not only the animals that can be eaten but the ways in which those animals must be killed as a precondition for eating them and the means by which they must be prepared. This can seriously limit the number of people one can eat with."
Now we just need to get the dwarf cowboy cooking…
