A food critic chronicles four years spent traveling with René Redzepi, the renowned chef of Noma, in search of the most tantalizing flavors the world has to offer. “If you want to understand modern restaurant culture, you need to read this book.”—Ruth Reichl, author of Save Me the Plums
Hungry is a book about not only the hunger for food, but for risk, for reinvention, for creative breakthroughs, and for connection. Feeling stuck in his work and home life, writer Jeff Gordinier happened into a fateful meeting with Danish chef René Redzepi, whose restaurant, Noma, has been called the best in the world. A restless perfectionist, Redzepi was at the top of his game but was looking to tear it all down, to shutter his restaurant and set out for new places, flavors, and recipes.
This is the story of the subsequent four years of globe-trotting culinary adventure, with Gordinier joining Redzepi as his Sancho Panza. In the jungle of the Yucatán peninsula, Redzepi and his comrades go off-road in search of the perfect taco. In Sydney, they forage for sea rocket and sandpaper figs in suburban parks and on surf-lashed beaches. On a boat in the Arctic Circle, a lone fisherman guides them to what may or may not be his secret cache of the world’s finest sea urchins. And back in Copenhagen, the quiet canal-lined city where Redzepi started it all, he plans the resurrection of his restaurant on the unlikely site of a garbage-filled lot. Along the way, readers meet Redzepi’s merry band of friends and collaborators, including acclaimed chefs such as Danny Bowien, Kylie Kwong, Rosio Sánchez, David Chang, and Enrique Olvera. Hungry is a memoir, a travelogue, a portrait of a chef, and a chronicle of the moment when daredevil cooking became the most exciting and groundbreaking form of artistry.
Praise for Hungry
“In Hungry, Gordinier invokes such playful and lush prose that the scents of mole, chiles and even lingonberry juice waft off the page.”—Time
“This wonderful book is really about the adventures of two men: a great chef and a great journalist. Hungry is a feast for the senses, filled with complex passion and joy, bursting with life. Not only did Jeff Gordinier make me want to jump on the next flight (to Mexico, Copenhagen, Sydney) in search of the perfect meal, but he also reminded me to stop and savor the ride.”—Dani Shapiro, author of Inheritance
So...I wasn't sure what I was going to think about this book when I got an arc to read - I just knew that it sounded interesting, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Now that I've finished it? I'm *still* not sure about the book, other than I know I liked it. It's sort of like what a prepared dish is like - disparate elements brought together to make the whole more interesting. Gordinier may not be a chef per se, but he creates with words - and the finished piece is more than I would have expected.
It's a little bit memoir, briefly hitting points about the dissolution of his marriage at the time of his first real introduction to Redzepi, the driving force behind Noma. It hits biography as it covers Redzepi's end of Noma, his pop-ups, and the new Noma. It is travelogue - Mexico plays a LARGE part here. It is philosophy, as all the pieces come together in ways unexpected and eye-opening. For a shortish book, it really manages to cover a lot - something I would expect a dish at Noma might be like.
Long story short - for anyone interested in cooking, in Noma, in Mexico, or just curious - it really is an interesting book and well worth reading.
