Reviews

National Dish: Around the World in Search of Food, History, and the Meaning of Home by Anya von Bremzen

jrae_miller's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

3.5

I really struggled through this one. I found the author's tone and attitude frustrating, I wished there were more translations of the non-English phrases, and I didn't feel that she effectively built toward her final conclusion: that food doesn't necessarily *have* borders or *belong* to any one group of people. The last part of the last chapter and the epilogue redeemed it slightly, but I probably won't recommend it. 

bpicillo's review against another edition

informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

A thought-provoking and well-researched--albeit somewhat flawed--exploration food in the context of national identities. I think von Bremzen is successful in proving her overall thesis, but at times, there is over-simplification of intra-national identities and their relation to food pathways. This criticism may be somewhat unfair given that the goal is to compare across countries not necessarily dissect every food pathway within a given country. I think the later chapters on Mexico and Turkey were most successful. I also wished she had included a wider variety of countries since the ones included were the usual suspects. Beautifully written while mixing travel writing, memoir, and more academic styles.

lexisunshine's review against another edition

adventurous informative slow-paced

3.25

Loved: the food and travel anecdotes! It made me so goddamn hungry~

Didn’t love: something about the pacing, maybe? I don’t know, maybe I felt the book was too long? I took me a while to get through. 

ladyofthelake's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

pochicho's review against another edition

slow-paced

1.0

bookishbab's review

I just didn’t like the writer’s voice. It was very well-researched but seemed too  clinical at some points, and just a little inaccessible. She just isn’t my cup of tea, nothing personal, but I was unmotivated to keep exploring with her.

booksandbargains's review against another edition

I’m not sure the writing style was for me but I just couldn’t get into this one 

vernal's review

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

mountainsatellite's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

4.0

frenchmolasses's review

informative reflective medium-paced

2.5