Author: Jason
Anthony
Title: Hoosh: Roast Penguin, Scurvy Day, and Other
Stories of Antarctic Cuisine
Description: Anthony,
a seasoned Antarctic traveler himself, has written an extensive survey of food
in Antarctica. Starting with the earliest explorers, he goes into extreme,
sometimes disgusting, always interesting detail about what was eaten, how it
was prepared, and how it was transported to the Antarctic.
Source: One of
seven books nominated for Foreword’s award
in the travel category (I’m a judge this year). I chose this book as the best
of the seven.
Writing style: Meticulously
researched, yet always interesting and sometimes funny. It is a lot of writing on
one subject, and would probably be tough to read straight through in a couple
of sittings, but read a bit at a time, it’s fascinating.
Audience: People
who are interested in travel, history, exploration, and extreme endurance.
Major ideas: Well,
none of us will probably need to use the practical knowledge in this book (how
to make pemmican, prevent scurvy, or boil water under polar conditions), but
it’s certainly an example of how deep research and an engaging style can
produce a good book out of nearly any subject matter.
Wrap-up: I chose this book for first place because Anthony took a topic that
one might think had almost no information available, and managed to write a
well-researched, informative, and most of all, interesting book, entirely on Antarctic cuisine. Anthony uses both historical accounts and personal experience in his
roughly chronological approach. One might think that after permanent bases were
established in Antarctica that eating would be less of a challenge, but he
proves that it is still fascinating. 4/5*
