The Pasha of Cuisine

I wanted to give this book 4 stars for the food descriptions alone. If you weren't hungry before, you will be after spending time with this book. I've never had any of the food described, but I'd eat any of it, anytime, anywhere, just let me know.

The larger problem I had with the book was that the cook's story was disjointed and kind of predictable. The cook had a privileged life growing up, meets a girl, falls in love with said girl, gets separated from said girl, and spends the entire book trying to get back together with said girl. The story's told nonsequentially as well, through flashbacks while the cook is already near his endgame. I wasn't all that fond of how the cook treats everybody around him as tools and pawns to get what he wants – what he wants being, of course, the girl – and damn everyone else who tries to be sensible with him. It's very much a “love conquers all” Disney story.

But still, the food descriptions are like, 5 stars at least.