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California Studies in Food and Culture #31
Eating Mud Crabs in Kandahar: Stories of Food during Wartime by the World's Leading Correspondents
These sometimes harrowing, frequently funny, and always riveting stories about food and eating under extreme conditions feature the diverse voices of journalists who have reported from dangerous conflict zones around the world during the past twenty years. A profile of the former chef to Kim Jong Il of North Korea describes Kim’s exacting standards for gourmet fare, which he gorges himself on while his country starves. A journalist becomes part of the inner circle of an IRA cell thanks to his drinking buddies. And a young, inexperienced female journalist shares mud crab in a foxhole with an equally young Hamid Karzai. Along with tales of deprivation and repression are stories of generosity and pleasure, sometimes overlapping. This memorable collection, introduced and edited by Matt McAllester, is seasoned by tragedy and violence, spiced with humor and good will, and fortified, in McAllester’s words, with “a little more humanity than we can usually slip into our newspapers and magazine stories.”
232 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 25, 2025
Very interesting read although, as could be expected from a collection of different journalists, I preferred some stories to others. Favourites include the title story and the IRA boys from Belfast.
March 19, 2013
"No matter what role you have in a conflict, you have to step out of it for at least a few minutes
every day to have breakfast, lunch, dinner—or a piece of bread. Meals put war on hold, even if the guns are still firing outside." These are the lines that got me to start reading thsi book in the first place.
Food plays an essential role in human life. It not only nourishes human body,it also is something over which the human race socializes.The best way to make a guest/stranger comfortable is to offer him food.Asking someone to "break bread" with you also shows closeness but without breaking the ethical rules.The mental state of an person is also determined by the food he/she eats.Too much food/too much of sweet food intake is usually a sign of mental distress or no self control.
The book share some funny,shocking stories about food in war zones or conflict zones, usually known as the hot zones. Stories range from the foods shared with the political leaders or ordinary citizens,how comforting food is smuggled inside some of the conflict zones from the neighboring states.There are stories of food famine aftermath.. where the generation that suffered is scarred for life and values food more than an average world citizen who shamelessly wastes food.
As for the political leaders mentioned; you see some personality snippets from the journalists eyes.For example Benazir Bhutto ate choclates/sweets like barfi when she was under pressure,Sharon ate huge amounts of food but always avoided intimate photographs which revealed his fat,overweight self.There is a story of the North Korean leader who while starving his nation, ate exotic and gorged himself on food.Imagine that the people starving and eating leaves,tender tree shoots for lunch and dinner or foraging for food.
Stories also include stories about journalists fussing about food.After spending a lot of time in the conflict zones, eating is the only thing that brings pleasure and that is their only solace and only means of keeping their sanity. There is also a sneak peek in to the journalism world where at times it is each man for his own,group-ism amongst people of a language or country...So people without rations are left to fend for themselves.
All in all the book is a good read. Although food stories from some part of the world may seem similar.But it is a different time-frame but the same people with their hard lives trying to find some normalcy amongst madness.I recommend it to anybody who cares to read this.
every day to have breakfast, lunch, dinner—or a piece of bread. Meals put war on hold, even if the guns are still firing outside." These are the lines that got me to start reading thsi book in the first place.
Food plays an essential role in human life. It not only nourishes human body,it also is something over which the human race socializes.The best way to make a guest/stranger comfortable is to offer him food.Asking someone to "break bread" with you also shows closeness but without breaking the ethical rules.The mental state of an person is also determined by the food he/she eats.Too much food/too much of sweet food intake is usually a sign of mental distress or no self control.
The book share some funny,shocking stories about food in war zones or conflict zones, usually known as the hot zones. Stories range from the foods shared with the political leaders or ordinary citizens,how comforting food is smuggled inside some of the conflict zones from the neighboring states.There are stories of food famine aftermath.. where the generation that suffered is scarred for life and values food more than an average world citizen who shamelessly wastes food.
As for the political leaders mentioned; you see some personality snippets from the journalists eyes.For example Benazir Bhutto ate choclates/sweets like barfi when she was under pressure,Sharon ate huge amounts of food but always avoided intimate photographs which revealed his fat,overweight self.There is a story of the North Korean leader who while starving his nation, ate exotic and gorged himself on food.Imagine that the people starving and eating leaves,tender tree shoots for lunch and dinner or foraging for food.
Stories also include stories about journalists fussing about food.After spending a lot of time in the conflict zones, eating is the only thing that brings pleasure and that is their only solace and only means of keeping their sanity. There is also a sneak peek in to the journalism world where at times it is each man for his own,group-ism amongst people of a language or country...So people without rations are left to fend for themselves.
All in all the book is a good read. Although food stories from some part of the world may seem similar.But it is a different time-frame but the same people with their hard lives trying to find some normalcy amongst madness.I recommend it to anybody who cares to read this.
April 2, 2015
This was a really unique look at the role of food during wartime and much more varied than I initially considered it might be. My favorites include "Same-Day Cow (Afghanistan)," which includes the intricate politics of MREs; "A Diet for Dictators (North Korea)," detailing the extravagant culinary preferences of Kim Jong-Il despite his starved nation and how how personally revealing his tastes are beyond our initial assumptions; and "How Harry Lost His Ear (Northern Ireland)," in which a journalist trains for marathon drinking in order to learn more about the Provisional IRA. As usually plagues any collection of short pieces, some essays are much more engaging than others, but the good ones are really, really good. Some essays seemed only barely held together by the food premise, instead discussing the politics of the region. These often were still interesting, but I couldn't help but wonder how the author was going to manage a food tie-in. I liked the thematic groupings of "Survival Rations," "Insistent Hosts," "Food Under Fire," and "Breaking Bread," though some essays seemed like they belonged under headings different than the ones assigned. Overall, I liked and appreciated the essays detailing food in a more stereotypical war zone, where the danger was constant, the journalists, in the thick of conflict, getting to know their hosts, guides, aggressors well. I suspect the information I have learned in this collection will stay with me for quite a while.
August 1, 2018
UMassで勉強した時、アジア研究のクラスのためにこの本を買ったけど最近までまだ読んだ 笑 全体として好きだったけどちょっと長時間読んでた。
I bought this book for one of my Asian studies classes back when I studied at UMass Boston, but never read it until recently lol Overall I liked it but it did take me a bit to read.
I bought this book for one of my Asian studies classes back when I studied at UMass Boston, but never read it until recently lol Overall I liked it but it did take me a bit to read.
December 4, 2011
I loved this book. It took me all over the world’s war zones of the past few decades through tales of local food, of eating and not eating during war. We are introduced to Benazir Bhutto, Kim Jong Il, and Ariel Sharon in fascinating and very personal ways that are not usually written about, namely, how they eat. The stories are chock full of history that’s we’ve just lived through but with a behind-the-scenes vantage point that doesn’t show up in the newspapers.
Isabel Hilton’s Miraculous Harvest is a fantastic read about Mao’s cultural revolution and the largest mass starvation in history. It is wonderful how these writers have packed so much into these short stories. Tim Hetherington’s Same Day Cow about life with the American soldiers in Afghanistan had me laughing out loud.
Farnaz Fassihi and Joshua Hammer really made me feel what it must be like to be a foreign correspondent. In Jeweled Rice, Fassihi takes us to a troubled Iran where she stays with her grandmother who wants to her to finish her dinner before she runs to cover the latest student riots. Hammer in Weighed Down by a Good Meal in Gaza and Israel walks us through some very hot water he found himself in resulting from a kidnapping and an offhanded comment he made about the food.
Each story in this book is one you’ll want to retell to your friends. If you are a traveler, you will love the landscapes and odd corners of the world this book brings you to. I really enjoyed reading the 6 (of the 18) stories written by female foreign correspondents. These are not perspectives we get to hear enough of and they are absolutely delightful. Christina Lamb in Eating Mud Crabs in Kandahar takes us on her very first foreign assignment as a young woman in Afghanistan who has to dress as a man and ride horses without touching the guy she’s sitting behind. In Sugarland, Amy Wilentz takes us right into a makeshift home of a very hungry Haitian family during dinnertime. Through describing the local favorite foods she tells the colorful story of their culture, political history and post-earthquake living conditions.
Many of the stories have the heart-wrenching aspects to them that are inevitable with war and that no food can comfort. Sam Kiley’s, Eau de Cadavre, in Somalia and Rwanda is just that. He makes you taste and smell genocide. The stories are not downers though as the reporters are witty and good-humored. You really can’t help but chuckle, even in dire situations, when you see them doing the most ridiculous things to get food, all the while smoking and drinking to excess.
Isabel Hilton’s Miraculous Harvest is a fantastic read about Mao’s cultural revolution and the largest mass starvation in history. It is wonderful how these writers have packed so much into these short stories. Tim Hetherington’s Same Day Cow about life with the American soldiers in Afghanistan had me laughing out loud.
Farnaz Fassihi and Joshua Hammer really made me feel what it must be like to be a foreign correspondent. In Jeweled Rice, Fassihi takes us to a troubled Iran where she stays with her grandmother who wants to her to finish her dinner before she runs to cover the latest student riots. Hammer in Weighed Down by a Good Meal in Gaza and Israel walks us through some very hot water he found himself in resulting from a kidnapping and an offhanded comment he made about the food.
Each story in this book is one you’ll want to retell to your friends. If you are a traveler, you will love the landscapes and odd corners of the world this book brings you to. I really enjoyed reading the 6 (of the 18) stories written by female foreign correspondents. These are not perspectives we get to hear enough of and they are absolutely delightful. Christina Lamb in Eating Mud Crabs in Kandahar takes us on her very first foreign assignment as a young woman in Afghanistan who has to dress as a man and ride horses without touching the guy she’s sitting behind. In Sugarland, Amy Wilentz takes us right into a makeshift home of a very hungry Haitian family during dinnertime. Through describing the local favorite foods she tells the colorful story of their culture, political history and post-earthquake living conditions.
Many of the stories have the heart-wrenching aspects to them that are inevitable with war and that no food can comfort. Sam Kiley’s, Eau de Cadavre, in Somalia and Rwanda is just that. He makes you taste and smell genocide. The stories are not downers though as the reporters are witty and good-humored. You really can’t help but chuckle, even in dire situations, when you see them doing the most ridiculous things to get food, all the while smoking and drinking to excess.
June 2, 2015
Tales from international journalists of their experiences in war zones, and how whatever is going on around them, everybody needs to eat somehow even in the midst of fighting.
All fascinating, For me Joshua Hammer's account of his sumptuous meal with a Palestinian warlord, and his subsequent vilification by the Israelis and the pro-Israeli American press for his remark that it was one of the the best meals he'd eaten in Gaza, stands out as a real eye-opener.
Jason Burke gives an interesting account of taking tea with Benazir Bhutto; Sam Kiley's 'Eau de cadavre' was utterly horrifying, and I skipped James Meek's account of sheep-slaughtering in North Ossetia.
The writing is slick, as you'd expect from journalists of this calibre. All in all, a worthwhile read.
I would not want to eat mud crabs.
All fascinating, For me Joshua Hammer's account of his sumptuous meal with a Palestinian warlord, and his subsequent vilification by the Israelis and the pro-Israeli American press for his remark that it was one of the the best meals he'd eaten in Gaza, stands out as a real eye-opener.
Jason Burke gives an interesting account of taking tea with Benazir Bhutto; Sam Kiley's 'Eau de cadavre' was utterly horrifying, and I skipped James Meek's account of sheep-slaughtering in North Ossetia.
The writing is slick, as you'd expect from journalists of this calibre. All in all, a worthwhile read.
I would not want to eat mud crabs.
November 25, 2012
I mostly loved this collection. The essay on Rwanda in particular was extraordinary.
There were two moments in two distinct essays that upset me - a non-Haitian journalist writing on Haiti called Africa a country; a British journalist writing on Afghanistan described people "jabbering" in Pashto - and the essay on Ariel Sharon was so fatphobic and disgusting as to completely undermine the legitimate political point the author was trying to make about illegal land grabs on the West Bank. I felt revulsion at the author while reading the piece, although from what little of his politics came through, I suspect I would have agreed with them and liked the essay, had he not been so fatphobic.
There were two moments in two distinct essays that upset me - a non-Haitian journalist writing on Haiti called Africa a country; a British journalist writing on Afghanistan described people "jabbering" in Pashto - and the essay on Ariel Sharon was so fatphobic and disgusting as to completely undermine the legitimate political point the author was trying to make about illegal land grabs on the West Bank. I felt revulsion at the author while reading the piece, although from what little of his politics came through, I suspect I would have agreed with them and liked the essay, had he not been so fatphobic.
February 14, 2012
What a fascinating book. The people who are so often little more to us than a byline, who risk their very lives in the quest to bring us the most pressing news from around the globe, are brought to life in this edited volume of stories about food and eating in some of the most conflict ridden zones of the world. Haiti, Iraq, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Israel, Palestine, Rwanda...the stories cover a lot of historical - and actual - ground and come from some of the most talented journalists of our time. A unique way to be served up the recent past. And like any good meal, these stories will stick with you and leave you wanting more.
September 12, 2015
An insightful book that let me into the accounts of war and food. I was a little disappointed with the story of 'Eating Mud Crabs in Kandahar' as I had expected the author to have tried the 'mud crab experience' herself to write the article and also for it to be the cover title of the book. Nevertheless, other articles in the book shone and I loved the last chapter on 'House of Bread'. Not to say, I picked up quite a few new vocabulary from this book and am impressed with the way the authors wrote!
July 18, 2012
From MREs to turkey testicles, from Haiti to Ossetia, this book was an interesting read from start to finish. Not only does it delve into the food of the general populace in recent war zones, but it also gives insight into the eating habits of who were or would later be influential. Perhaps what really won me over was the inclusion of a few recipes for the dishes discussed. Any book that has a recipe for borek is a winner.
February 14, 2012
A wonderfully engrossing assortment of stories of war, horror, humor and food. Tidbits about Kim Jong-il's obscenely rich tastes, Ariel Sharon's (barely) hidden gluttony, the contents of MREs, the favored fusion cuisine of Iranian student protestors and much more. These largely personal tales are crafted by a top-notch assortment of global correspondents and almost every story is a gem.
April 6, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed the insiders view into war zones and other unsettled places from the perspective of how and what to eat. Each story carries a little gem - of cooking lore, of history, of making do - and, though the stories vary widely, the undercurrent of hunger, the importance of eating together, and the joy that food can bring unite these stories into a wonderful whole.
January 20, 2012
Riveting accounts from a collection of foreign correspondents about the role food played in their travels. DO NOT read this book when you are hungry!
February 20, 2012
Awesome read, and a vivid reminder of just deep-seated the need to enjoy your food can really be.
June 22, 2012
One of the best books I have read this year. Each journalist offers a stunning combination of food writing to make one salivate and an unjaundiced perspective of geopolitics. Simply amazing.
July 16, 2015
Amazing!
June 16, 2016
Very varied writing. Still love the story by Barbara Demick. Also like Joshua Hammer's. Janine di Giovanni's is good too.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews