Armchair Travel: 6 International Food Memoirs

When I can't take real vacation, the second best way to escape — yes, it's a distant second — is by reading about the international adventures of other people, especially when they revolve around food. Whether you are traveling around the world or staying close to home this summer, here are six books that will make you hungry for both new food and a little adventure.

• 1 Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes: Mayes tells a sun-soaked tale about buying and renovating an old house in the Italian town of Cortona, with recipes. Don't let the mediocre Hollywood adaptation scare you off — the original is so much better.

• 2 Climbing the Mango Trees by Madhur Jaffrey: Actress and Indian cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey grew up in Delhi and Kampur, and her memoir captures the magical, food-filled world of her privileged life as the daughter of a wealthy business man during a time of tumultuous politics in India.

• 3 My Life in France by Julia Child: Julia Child's lifelong love of both French cooking and her husband, Paul Child, are brilliantly captured in this book, which was the basis for the Julia sections of the movie Julie & Julia.

• 4 Long Ago in France by M.F.K. Fisher: Another story of love and France, this time from the perspective of the inimitable M.F.K. Fisher, one of my very favorite writers.

• 5 Honey From a Weed by Patience Gray: This thoughtful memoir about the author's 20 years spent living in the Mediterranean isn't one of those books you devour in a day. Instead, her careful prose and astute observations about food and life are best appreciated slowly, like a good meal.

• 6 Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper by Fuschia Dunlop: After moving to the Sichuan province of China and falling in love with the cuisine, Fuschia Dunlop attended the professional chef's program at the Institute of Higher Cuisine in Chengdu, so she writes about the hot-and-numbing food of this area with both passion and expertise.

Do you have any favorite food memoirs, international or otherwise?

(Images: Amazon)

Comments (12)

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry, by Kathleen Finn. It's the story of the American author's experience at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and is beautifully written, moving and romantic.

I highly recommend the Julia Child My Life in France book as well.

In addition, I just finished reading As Always, Julia, which is an edited volume of the letters between Julia Child and Avis de Voto. I wasn't thrilled with the editing job that Joan Reardon did, but the letters themselves are absolutely fascinating and super compelling - they give a sense not only of de Voto's and Child's relationship and culinary life in the mid-20th C., but of politics and life in general.

I read and loved Climbing the Mango Trees. One of my favorite food/travel books, it is one of those that creates mental images that stick with you for a long time.

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle was another good French travel food(ish) book.
Looking forward to reading Shark's Fin...

I would recommend Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto for a good travel/food book. It makes me want a big bowl of slurpy noodles and a cup of green tea when I read it.

I loved Frank Bruni's memoir Born Round http://www.confessionsofachocoholic.com/review/favorite-food-books

I recommend Toast by Nigel Slater.

I enjoyed reading "Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper" by Fuschia Dunlop. I was able to appreciate a country I had not considered reading through the eyes of a culinary adventurist.
I am looking for a gastronomy book based in Spain. Any suggestions?

Also "The Sweet Life in Paris" by David Lebovitz is a fantastic read.

My two favorites are "A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France" by Georgeanne Brennan and "The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen" by Jacques Pepin.

Susan Hermann Loomis "On Rue Tatin"

I belong to an online foodie book called The Kitchen Reader. We read Shark's Fin and really liked it. The recently published Blood, Bones & Butter by chef Gabrielle Hamilton was another great read, with evocative sections set in Italy.