I'd rather watch a televangelist with forks stuck in my eyes than watch a cooking show. But I am a huge fan of Man vs. Food, America's celebration of gluttony (not available in Ethiopia). Adam Richman is a funny, enthusiastic young guy who has worked in the food field and in his show, undertakes an exploration of food stores (restaurants and diners) across the country, competing in binge-eating challenges. This book, reflecting Richman's on-air voice and humor, tackles highlights of nine cities he has visited. He is very good in describing the effect of the food he is sampling, and makes stuff I would never touch sound intriguing. I'm sure that quality stands him well in Man vs. Food as well as his recent new show, not to mention his various writings. I found it a fun departure from my usual reading and recommend it highly. Cities featured include: LA, Honolulu, Brooklyn, St Louis, Cleveland, Austin, San Francisco, Portland, Savannah, and LA again. Included are sidebars with lists and points of note and, as a bonus, each chapter includes a choice recipe from the city under discussion. ( )

America the Edible is a travel and food memoir of a sort, written by Adam Richman - most popular for his work on Man Vs. Food, a travel and food show on the Travel Channel. First, let me say that this is NOT a novelization of the television show, this is an account of his own personal experiences traveling and eating outside of the show. He also gives a small amount of the food-related history of the city in question, and details how this resulted in what the locals there are eating now, which I found pretty fascinating, and offers his own recipes at the end of each chapter.

This is a very different Adam Richman than I am familiar with. Whereas on his show he comes off as a goofy, witty young man with a childlike sense of humor, in his book he's a bit more lewd a vulgar, and his "childlike sense of humor" would be better described as "obnoxious immature frat-boy humor." There are regular F-bombs, and he must spend time in every chapter telling you about the women he is sleeping with in every city he visits across the country. Meh.

Fortunately, his wit is still sharp, and it turns out that he's a great writer. I particularly like his scathing commentary about hipsters, which I naturally adored and chuckled over the couple of times it cropped up. What I like most of all about this book, and about Adam in general, is that he is a foodie without any of the pretentiousness that is common among foodies. As a food lover, he always pushes the importance of fresh, local foods cooked by local small businesses, he specifically says that the best meals usually come from those divey joints with faded signs hanging from ramshackle building. He has an amazing sense of taste - I'll never forget when he was fed a 'secret sauce' on his show and he started picking it apart ingredient-by-ingredient, much to the owner's alarm. With all that said, he's not above eating things corn dogs or deep-fried things and exclaiming how wonderful they are. It's about the ingredients, people, not the SHAPE of the food.

He's also incredibly open-minded about food, and he even says that while traditional food is great, what important is that the food tastes good, and he'd sooner take a "weird" new dish that is delicious over a traditional dish that is bland and boring, just like he'd sooner take a simply-prepared traditional dish that is cooked perfectly over a fancy schmancy new dish that is all flash and no substance. Gah, the guy is so sensible, why is this so uncommon among people? Seriously! This is why when it comes to food, I respect his opinion so much - along with Anthony Bourdain's.

I enjoyed the book. There is one issue, the book is filled with pictures of the food he is eating, but unfortunately these are printed on the regular pages, in black-and-white, and in very small sizes. It's basically impossible to get anything out of them, and so they don't really add anything to the book at all. It's too bad, but the book is enjoyable nevertheless. ( )

I stayed up way past my bedtime last night reading America the Edible from cover to cover; it was that good. Smart, sexy, funny, and delicious, I found it very charming and Richman to be a very engaging writer. Recipes and brief histories of the cities he visits are included, as well as location information for the many restaurants spoken about. At the back of the book, there is even an index which thrilled me to no end; it's going to make looking up the recipes and other food I want to check out all the more easy! ( )

I want to go eat with Adam Richman. Not only is he freaking adorable, he LOVES food. This is a great book to read if you are a foodie, or a traveler looking for new eats. I live in Cleveland (which is one of the cities he covers in his book) and know a lot of the places he covers for Cleveland. (Although I know of some that he missed, call me Adam!!) Truly enjoyable. ( )