Strange Foods: Bush Meat, Bats, and Butterflies: An Epicurean Adventure Around the World Hardcover – January 1, 1999

I loved this product

Here's the story of this book. One day I was at the old Barnes and Noble off of main street and this book was on the self and I noticed it while looking for a cook book. It was great! I almost bought it and then decieded not to. Well over the next 3 years I kept thinking about how I should have bought that book that I couldn't find when I went back to look (probably because it's out of print). Finally, I thought to look on Amazon, and low and libby, there it was! So guess what?????????I bought it!It's such a great book. After leaving it on my coffee table (and I Don't drink coffee) and having all my "friends" read it, I took it to my classroom and now I share it with my students, especially when I am teaching sociology. It's such a good teaching tool. I wish there were more pictures, but even without more (and it has a lot, I just want more), it's a great book. Obviously some students get a little grossed out, but that's what makes it so captivating, some of this book is like that accident we just have to look at but more positive. My favorite are the parts on Balut, Placenta (no pictures), Rats, Insects, Rotten Fish, and so many more! As long as you have a little bit of an open mind (or a lot), I am sure you'll like this book! Also, here's a list of things I've eaten to date that might be considered werid:---cultural foods that are uncommon in my area----Cow tongueBlood SausageGefilte FishMenudoHaggisSailsFrogs LegsAll sushiFugu Fish (in Japan)KangarooWild BoarLamaRattlesnakeElkAlligatorBufflo Oysters---cultural foods that are more different---grasshopperssilk wormsscorpionschimbai ants (they're pretty big)meal wormscricketstaruantula (home made too!, WARNING TRICKY TO PREPARE THOUGH)wasp larvegiant water bettleBalutwell, I am probably forgetting somethings, but you get the idea, I love to try new things!! I recommend "Typhoon" the resturant if you're in Southern California, and I recommend "Seattle's Finist Meats" if you want to order some interesting meat, I think they ship nationally? Good luck opening your mind, just don't let your brain fall out, THAT I won't eat, gross....Lastly, if you have not yet registered with Amazon, this would be a good time to do so so you can rate reveiws, and rate products, and rate reveiws, and buy products, and rate reviews. Take care.I am sure I am fogetting something here, but

Arrived in the condition described.

Jerry Hopkins offers a glimpse into the wonderful world (universe really) of truly exotic foods, ranging the stinky fruit durian, which he refers to at one point as being like eating ice cream in an outhouse, to rats (not consumed often enough as far as I'm concerned) to even his son's placenta, which the author warns you to de-vein if you are to serve to party guests.My only complaint, and it is a slight one, is that the book seems to be a little too concentrated on the cuisine and customs of Southeast Asia, which is somewhat understandable give the fact that Hopkins resides in Bangkok. However, I would have liked to seen some more information on Gamle Ole or the maggot cheese which is consumed in Sardinia, or hakarl (Greenlandic Shark).

VERY INTERESTING BOOK!!

This is one of the best coffee table books EVER created.The entries are strange but often times hilarious.

At first I bought this book as a coffee table book: intriguing writing, great photos, and a "strange" subject. But the book is more than this. It is a gentle commentary about how we humans often view the familiar as normal, and the other fellow's familiar as "strange". Mr. Hopkins amazing life experiences make this a book with a good story.

I bought this book for the shock value. It is a great conversation piece; the topics are definately bizarre. But upon reading it, I became more surprised at the academic way each subject (animal/insect, etc.) was handled. Surpisingly, it is a book that is more thought provoking than shocking. The quality photographs give it a National Geographic look and feel.