Cecily Wong - Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurers Guide (Atlas Obscura)

Gastro
Obscura

A
Food
adventurers
Guide

Cecily Wong Dylan Thuras

with additional writing by Rachel Rummel, Anne Ewbank, and Sam OBrien

WORKMAN PUBLISHING NEW YORK

Not everything in Gastro Obscura should be eaten. Some of the foods
in this book are a wonder to learn about, but do harm to partake in.
As for the rest, we encourage you to try them.

England / Ireland / Northern Ireland / Scotland Wales

Austria / Belgium / France / Germany / Greece Italy / Netherlands / Portugal / Spain

Czech Republic / Estonia / Georgia / Hungary Lithuania / Poland / Romania / Russia / Ukraine

Denmark / Finland / Greenland / Iceland / Norway Sweden

Armenia / Iran / Iraq / Israel / Kuwait / Lebanon Palestine / Qatar / Syria

Afghanistan / Bangladesh / India / Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan / Nepal / Pakistan / Turkey / Uzbekistan

China / Hong Kong / Taiwan / Tibet / Japan Mongolia / North Korea / South Korea

Brunei / Cambodia / Indonesia / Laos / Malaysia Myanmar / Philippines / Singapore / Thailand Vietnam

Egypt / Libya / Morocco / Tunisia

Burkina Faso / Gabon / Ghana / Mali / Nigeria Senegal

Eritrea / Ethiopia / Kenya / Rwanda / Somaliland Tanzania / Uganda / Zambia

Botswana / Namibia / South Africa / Zimbabwe Seychelles

Fiji / Papua New Guinea / Solomon Islands / Vanuatu

Alberta / British Columbia / Manitoba Northwest Territories / Nunavut / Saskatchewan Yukon

Newfoundland and Labrador / Nova Scotia / Ontario Prince Edward Island / Quebec

California / Oregon / Washington / Alaska / Hawaii

Arizona / Colorado / Nevada / New Mexico Texas / Utah

Idaho / Kansas / Montana / Nebraska / North Dakota Oklahoma / South Dakota / Wyoming

Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Michigan / Minnesota Missouri / Ohio / Wisconsin

Alabama / Arkansas / Florida / Georgia Kentucky / Louisiana / Mississippi / North Carolina South Carolina / Tennessee / Virginia

Delaware / Maryland / New Jersey / New York Pennsylvania / Washington, DC / West Virginia

Connecticut / Maine / Massachusetts New Hampshire / Rhode Island / Vermont

Belize / El Salvador / Guatemala / Honduras Nicaragua / Panama

Antigua / Cuba / Dominican Republic / Grenada Guadeloupe / Haiti / Jamaica / Martinique US Virgin Islands / Puerto Rico / Trinidad and Tobago

Argentina / Bolivia / Brazil / Chile / Colombia Ecuador / Peru / Venezuela

Every morning, dabbawalas throughout Mumbai transport homemade lunches to office workers, using codes on the packages to indicate their destination.

Eating may be the most immersive, visceral travel experience. It requires an engagement of every sense, from the sound of dishes clattering in an alleyway kitchen, to the smell of garlic hitting hot oil, to the joy of seeing a plate of food before you as you sit, utensil in hand, about to taste. Humans around the world are bound by the necessity and pleasure of eating, and there is no faster way to glimpse the heart of a place than by experiencing its food.

A guiding mantra at Atlas Obscura is that wonder can be found around every cornernot just in uncharted and far-flung locales but down the street, down some stairs, into the Victorian-era public toilet that now houses a London coffee bar. While travel is a beautiful way of seeking wonder, youll find within these pages that adventures dont always require a plane ticket. From the award-winning smokehouse in an Arkansas living room, to the Thai food stalls in a California parking lot, to the Mexican auto body shop that transforms into a taqueria every nightwondrous food is everywhere.

Gastro Obscura is a book that scratches the surface of a mind-bending world of eating. We love tasty food, but we aim to be explorers rather than gourmands. Seekers rather than epicureans. This book is more than a menu of foods worth tastingits a collection of forgotten histories and endangered traditions, obscure experiences, culinary ingenuity, and edible wonders. Its a noisy, delicious, action-packed feast that spans seven continents, and over 120 countries and, as often as possible, tells you exactly where and how to experience things for yourself.

Most of the entries in this book came from the Atlas Obscura communityover half a million incredible users who share tips with us every dayand our remarkable team of editors who scour the earth to find even more wonders. What you hold in your hands is a massive, collaborative effort made possible by every person who pointed us to a surprising restaurant, a charming fruit, or a Canadian hockey arena above the Arctic Circle that locals have turned into a thriving greenhouse.

We have always believed that wonder can be found wherever you are open to searching for it. Well, here it is, sitting right in front of you, waiting to be eaten. Dig in.

Cecily Wong and Dylan Thuras

F rom the outside, the Three Ways House Hotel is a typical 19th-century British bed-and-breakfast, made out of golden stone and engulfed in ivy. On Friday nights, however, the hotel plays host to the Pudding Cluban institution with a self-proclaimed mission of preserving the great British pudding.

Since 1985, dozens of dessert-lovers from around the world have gathered weekly to gorge on a banquet of British puddings, presented with pomp by the hotels resident Pudding Masterthe mastermind who curates the menu. Traditionally, British pudding is a cake-like dish made with suet, or hardened animal fat, thats steamed for hours and can be sweet or savory. But the word can also apply to desserts in general, and at the Pudding Club, the Friday feast includes traditional puddings like jam roly-poly, spotted dick, and sticky toffee pudding, as well as non-steamed puddings like rice pudding, sliced-bread-and-fruit summer pudding, apple crumble, passion fruit roulade, and syrup sponge cake.

The seven-course pudding extravaganza is a feat of endurance, and those who make it through the evening are awarded a certificate. According to Pudding Master Lucy Williams, the club is not just about indulgence, but celebrating dishes that have fallen out of modern favor.

How to try it

Interested parties must call the hotel and book in advance. After gorging on pudding, you can sleep in one of the hotels seven dessert-themed rooms.