Eat My Globe: One Year to Go Everywhere and Eat Everything

Very funny, engrossing travel memoir ... Majumdar is definitely opinionated, and I don't agree (for instance) that pizza is just "snot on toast", but he cares passionately about food and writes well about the dishes he tries, the people he meets, and the family who gave him his love of eating and life. He also has a healthy sense of humor about himself, which is an essential ingredient in any good memoir!

When Simon turns forty he is working at a job that he doesn't love any more. While cooking his favorite comfort food Bengali dahl, he finds a notebook with a list of life goals inside. One of the goals Go everywhere, eat everything got him to thinking. Another list with places to go and food to eat was made. Eat my globe was born. Connecting with friends in the blogosphere, he maps out a plan that takes him to 28 countries in 15 months. Simon has very strong opinions about food and he is not afraid to share them. I am not sure that I would like to be his friend but I did enjoy reading this book.

December 2012

Eat My Globe: One Year to go Everywhere and Eat Everything says it all in a nutshell. This is Simon Majumdar's book of the year he spent traveling the world and trying to sample or gorge on every foodstuff he could conceivably find. What the title doesn' t tell is that his quest ended up being as much about the people behind the food as it was about the food itself. We quickly find that if Simon is rhapsodizing about a meal he is likely to be in someone's home and the food is likely to be handmade and eaten with the host or hostess and their family.
So this is a foodie's book cataloging amazing and amazingly terrible meals, but it is also a memoir filled with stories of Simon's family, his brother (aka the Great Salami) and his fiery and show more passionate mother. At points the book naturally evolves into travelogue as Simon moves between Australia and Japan, Iceland, Mexico, and the US. Finally, mercifully, the book is funny. Simon never stops being amazed at his good fortune and seems to feel he has to repay it by eating the most horrendous things including stir fried rat and fermented mare's milk. Along the way he has a few laughs at his own expense and a few more at his brother's expense. What sticks with you in the end is Simon's sincere delight at the generosity of the people he meets on his travels and the delicious food they share with him. show less

Witty and interesting travel writing with an emphasis on foodie delights. Absolutely enjoyable with occasional moments of cringing as to what the author was ingesting. I enjoyed reading about the different cultures around the world where I will probably never set foot.

Just what I've been craving. An adventurous food book! A British blogger from a family where food is the primary, or it seems only, past time, finds himself turning forty. It is not surprise that his great mid-life crisis causes him to act on his life goal to "go everywhere and eat everything." The resulting book is as eclectic as the world's food cultures.

His schedule for the "year" (p.13):

March and April: UK and Ireland
May: Australia
June: more UK
July: Japan
August: Hong Kong and China
September: Mongolia, Russia and Finland
October: United States
November: Mexico, Argentina, Brazil (and Thanksgiving in California)
January: Germany and Iceland
February: Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia
March: The Philippines, India
April: South Africa, Mozambique, show more Senegal, Morocco
May: Turkey, Italy, France, Spain
Part travelogue, part global food profile, part wacky adventure story, the book is full of unexpected bits about food culture (Icelanders are obsessed with hot dogs?) And the book proves the best part of enjoying food is sharing it with others. The people he meets as he travels around the globe are as interesting as the foods he describes. In fact, I wish there were more descriptions of both people and food. Not that the book lacks either, but Majumdar's style is so familiar, I just want more courses. show less

Eating one's way around the world--what a job! Simon Majumdar doesn't go everywhere or eat everything, but he gets a lot further and so much more adventuresome than most people. Dog? Rat? Why not. A highly-opinionated, fun, & sometimes eyebrow-raising read. Majumdar might not be the best writer in the world, and not the best edited, but it's difficult not to envy his journey.

This is more than just a food book. It is funny, charming,moving and informative. A rare combination. Prompted by the tragic death of his Mother and his 40th birthday Simon experienced what was, i suppose, a small breakdown. Going through some of his personal notes he noticed something he'd written years before, something he wanted to do "Go everywhere, eat everything" and so Simon's journey began. In his own words "I do it so you don't have too"