335. Tapai: Travels & Guilty Pleasures of a Fermented Malaysian

BOOK REVIEW: Tapai - Travels & Guilty Pleasures of a Fermented Malaysian

Food and Malaysians are never far apart. One issue that bonds us across the nation, day or night, is probably a plate of steaming nasi lemak and a frothy teh tarik. If you are a Malaysian foodie, this book is going to bring you into the annals of Malaysian food.

In an age where food has become entertainment television, the wit and wisdom of the author is like a proper kitchen knife - always sharp. This wandering bon vivant and former Malaysian exile does not (yet) have his own TV show, choosing instead to record his amazing adventures in writing.

This handpicked collection from his column Tapai in Off the Edge magazine presents a way of looking at the world beyond our food fetish and its lifestyle trappings.

The author's grand unified theory of everything links his life on the lam with a number of encounters: a seedy café in Pudu, Christmas in Bangladesh, stalking Akira Kurosawa (posthumously), working in soup kitchens, and discovering a place that sells diamonds and nouvelle cuisine. That's just for starters.

In between this all, he warps time to meet the Darai of the band that accompanied the raising of the Jalur Gemilang on 31st August 1957, amongst other wonderful people.

Naturally, lusty food marks this ageless hippie's quest: mutton and duck stew Acehnese-style, Ramly burgers, foie gras, truffles, oysters and caviar. The author takes the reader on a life-affirming trip that nourishes the soul, like the best tapai in ferment.

Don't be shocked when you come across double entendres galore as this is just how the author portrays food in his mind. If you really wanted to seek a needle in a haystack for eateries in Malaysia, this book will do the trick.
 

334. The World's Greatest Ghosts by Roger Boar & Nigel Blundell

BOOK REVIEW: The World's Greatest Ghosts by Roger Boar & Nigel Blundell

Ever walked into a room where a cold spot occurs for no reason? Sensed a loved one is near you when they passed away years ago? We live in a world divided by a thin veil between the land of the living and dead. 

In this book is a spine-chilling collection of peoples' true experiences of ghosts and the supernatural, written in a no-nonsense and unfanciful manner. 

Included are some chapters about the well-known and celebrated ghosts of stately homes, the terrifying antics of poltergeists, ancient curses and modern and medieval witchcraft.

I loved this book which both gave me the chills and also a dash of history sprinkled in. For horror aficionados, a copy of this book is sure to leave a grin on their faces.

 

333. The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones

BOOK REVIEW: The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones

Chinese food has remained intact through generations. Regional Chinese cuisine, especially in China, is highly regarded and sought after. In this novel, the author has placed Chinese cuisine at the forefront.

In her satisfying, sensual third novel, the author takes readers inside the hidden world of elite cuisine in modern China through the story of an American food writer in Beijing.

When recently widowed Maggie McElroy is called to China to settle a claim against her late husband's estate, she is blindsided by the discovery that he may have led a double life. 

Since work is all that will keep her sane, her magazine editor assigns her to profile Sam, a half-Chinese American who is the last in a line of gifted chefs tracing back to the imperial palace.

As she watches Sam gear up for China's Olympic culinary competition by planning the banquet of a lifetime, she begins to see past the cuisine's artistry to glimpse its coherent expression of Chinese civilization.

It is here, amid lessons of tradition, obligation and human connection that she finds the secret ingredient that may yet heal her heart. 

As a foodie, the book brought me on a smooth ride through the Chinese culinary world. Beautifully written to a T, this novel is a wonderful addition to a foodie's bookshelf.

 

332. Darwin Comes to Town by Menno Schilthuizen

BOOK REVIEW: Darwin Comes to Town by Menno Schilthuizen

As development encroaches every part of available natural ground, human-animal contact has become very common. The adaptation of fauna towards all this development is something to analyze clearly. 

The author is an urban ecologist. In this book, he takes us around the world for an up close look at just how stunningly flexible and swift-moving natural selection can be.

With human populations growing, we're having an increasing impact on global ecosystems, and nowhere do these impacts overlap as much as they do in cities.

This book draws on eye-popping examples of adaptation, to share a stunning vision of urban evolution in which humans and wildlife coexist in a unique harmony. 

It reveals that evolution can happen far more rapidly than Darwin dreamed, while providing a glimmer of hope that our race toward overpopulation might not take the rest of nature down with us.