A Moveable Feast

Friday, 26 November 2010

Don George in California regularly puts together travel writing anthologies for Lonely Planet and his latest collection follows that most important travel activity: eating. They’re all short tales, just a bite-sized mouthful each. My Moveable Feast favourites:

• Just What the Doctor Ordered – Alexander Lobrano – arrives in Portugal, jumps in car, somewhere down the road drops in to a roadside restaurant and enjoys a delightful introduction to the country and the cuisine courtesy of group of doctors at an adjacent table.

• A Feast on Fais – Lawrence Millman – an amusing variation on the ‘sheep’s eyeballs for the favoured guest’ routine, here it’s baked fruit bat on a remote Pacific Island. ‘And we’ve saved the penis for you.’
• Long Live the King – John T Newman – if the mangosteen is the queen then the durian is the king, I’m surprised there hasn’t been more written on this much maligned fruit!
• Mango Madness – Amanda Jones – a much appreciated mango in a remote region of Ethiopia.
• The Abominable Trekker – Jeff Greenwald – Himalayan trekker makes terrible faux pas in remote village, but it works out OK.
• The Rooster’s Head in the Soup – Tim Cahill – another ‘and we’ll give him the sheep’s eyeball’ tale, but with a nice twist at the end.