Anthony Bourdain's "A Cook's Tour"

The subtitle is "Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines" but the real goal is a mildly macho food travel show, not shock value. We like Mr. Bourdain -- he's funny, idiosyncratic, and opinionated. But why is he whining like a wussy when he has to eat bird's nest soup, natto, or mountain potato? We've eaten all these things in our home country, America, and we didn't freak out about it, even long before we began the Weird Meat Project. Our favorite suburban sushi chef dishes out natto and mountain potato all the time, and plenty of white people eat it and even ask for it. I even cook with satoimo mountain potato or yamaimo mountain yam at home, my local grocer carries them in California. They're white and slimey like semen, but we like how the stuff soaks up sauces and provides a unique contrasting texture on top of a crunchy or chewy dish.



Natto we like for breakfast. We buy small cases of it in the frozen section. It is kind of a chore to eat it without being messy, but the flavor is worth it, especially mixed with hot mustard and MSG broth. It also feels nourishing and healthy and we know that's not macho, but whatever, we like a dose of good-for-us-ness from time to time. Like listening to jazz.

We agree with Jeffrey Steingarten's method of trying everything multiple times before deciding if it's good or not. We've tried a lot of food that didn't impress us on the first try, and kept an open mind about it. Give it another go. Taste is acquired. There are millions of people who enjoy natto -- are you sure it's bad after one try? What about from a different chef or producer, or in a different setting?

Now, we have found some things that are simply bad, even after many many tries and in different settings. As we've mentioned many many times before, Shanghainese food is one of these sad bad things -- it's just not good. And even though we shrugged off warnings from Chinese and foreign friends alike, we finally have to admit that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, good about baijiu. Báijiǔ is the strong, sweet clear wine that is to China what vodka is to Russia or sake is to Japan. Tastes like gasoline with sugar.



Speaking of disgusting things, I guess I'm obsessed, but I was "treated" to another Shanghainese meal the other night. Shanghainese food is sadistic. One dish, for example, was ... pork cuts, deep-fried with crunchy corn meal. Over that, they poured a sickly sweet mayonaise, and then -- the horror -- they sprinkled those little rainbow-sprinkles that kids like to put on cheap ice cream sundaes. It doesn't get weirder than that, nor more unpalatable. Give me natto! There's a lot of talk about the joys of mixing east and west cuisines, but this is what they came up with?