Well Read, Well Fed (Installment 6)

I recently read Sound Bites; Eating on Tour with Franz Ferdinand by Alex Kapranos. He is the lead singer of Franz Ferdinand, and the Guardian hired him to write a column about eating on tour.

I had mentioned wanting to read the book in this post.

The book is great! Small snippets of food experiences from cities all over the world. Each chapter is only a few pages long, but each one transports you to that location, that time and that atmosphere. It's quite a fun book, with interesting foods and insights and people and places. Even if you're not familiar or not a fan of Franz Ferdinand, if you like food and/or travel, I'd recommend this quick read. Here's an excerpt I found particularly amusing (and appetizing!), from the chapter "Beware The White Widow - utrecht":

The waitress presents each of us with a twelve-inch gold disc. The pillowy-soft batter tapers to a crisp, crunchy edge.

I could not decide whether I wanted bacon and apple or bacon and cheese. Each sounded good, so I ordered all three fillings. It is a crowded pancake. The streaks of bacon and slivers of apple are contrasting characters, but couple well. His salty directness is offset by her sweet, forgiving nature, making their relationship complex and complementary. Bacon gets on well with cheese, too. They’re so similar – vigorous and rude, wrapped together in sweaty excitement. But cheese and apple are vile to each other. Bacon brings out their sickly bitching contradictions, their flavours fighting for his attention, spoiling each other, and awkward in the pancake like a mistress and wife sharing a train carriage with their boorish lover. I love the drama. I tear off a piece and toss it to a drake. He beats the water and snaps his bill. He loves it too.