Perhaps all foodies should be like Australian food critic Stephen Downes–write a list of 100 gastronomic experiences to have before one retires six feet underground. In To Die For: 100 Gastronomic Experiences to Have Before You Die, he does exactly that.
The book is divided into three sections: Eating Out, Eating In and Worth the Effort. In the first section, he chronicles best meals he’s had in restaurants and anything that’s not homecooked food. From the three-star Michelin restaurants to the century eggs in Hong Kong, he whets your appetite with every word.
In the Eating In section, he writes about the best homecooked food he has eaten. Can’t quite remember what the items were. Worth the Effort is about food that is worth putting in the effort to make. I remember Eggs Benedict as being in either one…can’t remember which one!
In his introduction, Downes writes that in writing this book, he wants to share with people how to eat well and how to recognise good food. There are no recipes in the book and it really is a book about the art of eating well. It’s an easy and pleasant read which is great for that short bus/train ride as the book is really made up of short articles.
To Die For is available at the National Library.