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Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations | 
 enlarge | Author: Chris Fair
Publisher: The Lyons Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $16.47
You Save: $8.48 (34%)
New (35) Used (13) Collectible (1) from $12.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 27378
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 1599212862
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.59
EAN: 9781599212869
ASIN: 1599212862
Publication Date: August 3, 2008
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 A tasty serving of geopolitics December 1, 2008
This quirky, snarky, arresting cookbook is geared for travelers, foreign policy wags, and culinary experimentalists. All at once!
Are you wondering what to serve to your Burmese dinner guest to provide a taste of the familiar? Wishing you were sitting in a Peshawari dive plowing through a plate of kebabs and rice? Chris Fair will take you on the adventure you seek. She is a marvelous cook, a seasoned traveler, and a witty guide to the flavors and foibles of distant locales. She provides a wide assortment of geopolitical tidbits to whet your appetite, and unusual, authentic recipes achievable using ingredients available in the West. A Sunday afternoon spent in the kitchen under her guidance is sure to satisfy the culinary adventurer.
Libraries strong in international cuisine and humor will find it an enticing pick November 15, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations provides a very different kind of cookbook. Author Chris Fair has dined with soldiers in Afghanistan and prostitutes in India, and even had Taliban tea in Peshawar. His cookbook specializes in recipes from the 'axis of evil' countries of the world, while his stories blend culinary insights with cultural observations and a heavy dose of humor. Any who would 'know thy enemy' must know what they eat and CUISINES OF THE AXIS OF EVIL covers it all. Libraries strong in international cuisine and humor will find it an enticing pick.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
 Fun but inaccurate October 8, 2008
2 out of 10 found this review helpful
The book gets two stars for being fun, if you can get past it's politics.
My biggest gripe about this book is it's ridiculous contention that the popularity of dishes such as falafel, hummus and baba ganouj has anything to do with Israel's possession of disputed land claimed by both the Palestinian Arabs and the Palestinian Jews.
First of all, as noted in Claudia Roden's book, "The New Book of Middle Eastern Food," chickpea falafel is a purely and uniquely Israeli dish.
Secondly, the popularity of other Middle Eastern foods can be clearly traced to the fact that approximately 50% of the Jews in Israel are Arab Jews who are either refugees or descended from refugees from countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yeman, etc..
Does my wife's family, who are Jewish refugees from Morocco, like hummus because of the Palestinian Arabs or because they are native Middle Easterners who lived in Morocco for 2000 years after being forcibly expelled from their homes by the Romans?
A smart and evil grouse for dinner. August 23, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Unique is an understatement. What other book full of carefully selected, international recipes includes a no-holds-barred "dossier of perfidy" for the 10 countries from where they originate and a bibliography richer than many doctoral theses? A cookbook with "Beer Butt Chicken" AND Zhen Qie Zi? Powerful and insightful critiques of Pakistani AND Israeli policies?
In her analyst-world, the author is well known for being direct and honest; someone once called her unvarnished, but that's far too simplistic. Read the book and you'll see she's also incredibly passionate about important things, creative in her approach to understanding and explaining them, sometimes pornographic, amazingly well-informed, often skeptical, and always brings along her 800lb vocabulary.
Everyone who reads this will learn something. Perhaps it will be about food and politics or just some new words for the NYT crossword or your GRE. Maybe you'll be inspired to know more about some of these places. I certainly am. Regardless, you won't read another book like this, I promise. Yes, I'm an "insider", but that doesn't make me wrong.
Hate the policies, like the people, love the food.
Terrific Book! August 22, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations
This book was terrific. Hilarious. Informative. A fun and interesting read!
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