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Rating: 
Summary: Erp!
Review: At first I bought this book as a coffee table book: intriguing writing, great photos, and a "strange" subject. But the book is more than this. It is a gentle commentary about how we humans often view the familiar as normal, and the other fellow's familiar as "strange". Mr. Hopkins amazing life experiences make this a book with a good story.
Rating:
Summary: Rethink your idea of a good meal.
Review: Fascinating photos, recipes for foods I wouldn't even want to look at in a cage, but the writing is great, and the author's point: Food is all about culture, is very provocative. A very strange, yet terrific coffee table book for the more adventurous
Rating: 
Summary: Anthropolists' Delight
Review: I bought this book for the shock value. It is a great conversation piece; the topics are definately bizarre. But upon reading it, I became more surprised at the academic way each subject (animal/insect, etc.) was handled. Surpisingly, it is a book that is more thought provoking than shocking. The quality photographs give it a National Geographic look and feel.
Rating:
Summary: Broadening one's horizons
Review: Jerry Hopkins offers a glimpse into the wonderful world (universe really) of truly exotic foods, ranging the stinky fruit durian, which he refers to at one point as being like eating ice cream in an outhouse, to rats (not consumed often enough as far as I'm concerned) to even his son's placenta, which the author warns you to de-vein if you are to serve to party guests.
My only complaint, and it is a slight one, is that the book seems to be a little too concentrated on the cuisine and customs of Southeast Asia, which is somewhat understandable give the fact that Hopkins resides in Bangkok. However, I would have liked to seen some more information on Gamle Ole or the maggot cheese which is consumed in Sardinia, or hakarl (Greenlandic Shark).
Rating: 
Summary: Have a meal on the wild side...
Review: Strange Foods is a fascinating investigation of foods that are unpalatable to westerners. It'd be a real treasure, but it is beset by both factual and writing errors. One caveat: this is NOT a book for the squeamish - not only does Hopkins discuss, in great detail, the consumption of things like gorillas, insects, and endangered species, but Michael Freeman provides full-color, often full-page photos of nearly every food item in the book. If the text doesn't turn your stomach, at least a few of the pictures will. The errors will also turn some stomachs, mostly those belonging to writers and scientists. The book is full of non-sentences and in some places seems entirely unedited; I found an average of four errors on each page, and I wasn't reading for mistakes. Hopkins' convoluted sentence construction and affinity for fragments makes for truly eye-watering reading at times. Although the factual errors were less prevalent, they were present, and in some ways they were even worse than the writing.
Also, there are areas where Hopkins carefully skirts the issues behind his culinary experiments; he's determinedly neutral on environmental and species-preservation issues. I imagine his stances would really irritate a committed environmentalist - the section on whales, for example, might raise a few WWF eyebrows, as would the section on bush meat (primates). Still, the book is worth a read, even for people (like me) who are unlikely ever to try any of the foods mentioned. It's always good to see how the other half lives, and eating is a huge part of that. For world travelers, too, it is handy to know beforehand what to expect; those who read this book will be fully prepared for strange dietary preferences, no matter where in the world they go. I don't consider this book useful as a reference source (because of the errors), but it is entertaining. On the whole, Strange Foods isn't worth the cover price - check it out of the library or buy it used - but it is worth the time it takes to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Have a meal on the wild side...
Review: Strange Foods is a fascinating investigation of foods that are unpalatable to westerners. It'd be a real treasure, but it is beset by both factual and writing errors. One caveat: this is NOT a book for the squeamish - not only does Hopkins discuss, in great detail, the consumption of things like gorillas, insects, and endangered species, but Michael Freeman provides full-color, often full-page photos of nearly every food item in the book. If the text doesn't turn your stomach, at least a few of the pictures will. The errors will also turn some stomachs, mostly those belonging to writers and scientists. The book is full of non-sentences and in some places seems entirely unedited; I found an average of four errors on each page, and I wasn't reading for mistakes. Hopkins' convoluted sentence construction and affinity for fragments makes for truly eye-watering reading at times. Although the factual errors were less prevalent, they were present, and in some ways they were even worse than the writing.
Also, there are areas where Hopkins carefully skirts the issues behind his culinary experiments; he's determinedly neutral on environmental and species-preservation issues. I imagine his stances would really irritate a committed environmentalist - the section on whales, for example, might raise a few WWF eyebrows, as would the section on bush meat (primates). Still, the book is worth a read, even for people (like me) who are unlikely ever to try any of the foods mentioned. It's always good to see how the other half lives, and eating is a huge part of that. For world travelers, too, it is handy to know beforehand what to expect; those who read this book will be fully prepared for strange dietary preferences, no matter where in the world they go. I don't consider this book useful as a reference source (because of the errors), but it is entertaining. On the whole, Strange Foods isn't worth the cover price - check it out of the library or buy it used - but it is worth the time it takes to read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Promoting New Forms Of Animal Slaughter
Review: There is no logical reason that turkeys and chickens should be more often butchered than other forms of birds, nor that some fishes are more often eaten than others. However, it is a negative thing to widen the list of animals falsely termed edible. END
Rating:
Summary: expand your horizons
Review: This book is written for the travelers of life, not the tourists. I found it to be full of fascinating information on the culinary habits of other cultures. Although "multi-culturalism" is such a buzzword in America these days, few actually mean it. They actually want everyone to behave like spoiled, "politically correct" urban dwellers. This book is a refreshing change from that numbingly dull mindset. The author seems like someone who truly respects other cultures...even if that means eating whales, dogs and other politically incorrect critters. He is sensitive about the environment, but will put your own cultural prejudices to the test. I would have rated it higher but the biological misinformation that popped up throughout the book could be distracting. Calling "dirt" inorganic is just sloppy writing. But, all in all, this is a fine book. I would suggest it to travelers, food lovers, hunters, biophiliacs and anyone else looking for a walk on the wild side.
Rating:
Summary: expand your horizons
Review: This book is written for the travelers of life, not the tourists. I found it to be full of fascinating information on the culinary habits of other cultures. Although "multi-culturalism" is such a buzzword in America these days, few actually mean it. They actually want everyone to behave like spoiled, "politically correct" urban dwellers. This book is a refreshing change from that numbingly dull mindset. The author seems like someone who truly respects other cultures...even if that means eating whales, dogs and other politically incorrect critters. He is sensitive about the environment, but will put your own cultural prejudices to the test. I would have rated it higher but the biological misinformation that popped up throughout the book could be distracting. Calling "dirt" inorganic is just sloppy writing. But, all in all, this is a fine book. I would suggest it to travelers, food lovers, hunters, biophiliacs and anyone else looking for a walk on the wild side.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding writing and photos!
Review: You have got to see this book! There are some truly unbelievable things in it. Put this on your coffee table or in your waiting room and you will get conversation like no other!
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