Overview
Taras Grescoe embarks on a journey into the forbidden as he searches for the world's taboo indulgences.
Synopsis
A journey into illicit pleasure the world over.
From Norwegian moonshine to the pentobarbital sodium sipped by suicide tourists in Switzerland—and,, in between, baby eels killed by an infusion of tobacco, a garlicky Spanish stew of bull’s testicles, tea laced with cocaine, and malodorous French cheese—Taras Grescoe has written a travelogue of forbidden indulgences. As Grescoe crisscrosses the globe in pursuit of his quarry, he delves into questions of regional culture and repressive legislation—from the clandestine absinthe distillation in an obscure Swiss valley to the banning of poppy seed biscuits in Singapore—and launches into a philosophical investigation of what’s truly bizarre: how something as fundamental as the plants and foods we consume could be so vilified and demonized.
An investigation into what thrills us, what terrifies us, and what would make us travel ten thousand miles and evade the local authorities, The Devil’s Picnic is a delicious and compelling expedition into the heart of vice and desire.
The New York Times - Neil Genzlinger
The high point, though, is his chapter on a trip to Madrid in search of bull's testicles, a foray that gives him an excuse to take note of an array of other revolting delicacies - maggot-covered cheese and rotten herring, for instance.
Editorials
Neil Genzlinger
The high point, though, is his chapter on a trip to Madrid in search of bull's testicles, a foray that gives him an excuse to take note of an array of other revolting delicacies - maggot-covered cheese and rotten herring, for instance.— The New York Times