Ant Egg Soup: The Adventures of a Food Tourist in Laos
by Natacha Du Pont De Bie
Sceptre $145
Natacha Du Pont De Bie is not the smug tourist who goes to a third-world country professing eagerness to experience the out-of-the-ordinary, only to head to McDonald's or Starbucks at the first opportunity, and to haggle with the 'natives' over the smallest denomination of dong, riel or kip. As the title of the book suggests, Du Pont De Bie travels to eat. She goes in search of new and exciting dishes, and nothing proves too strange or exotic for her to taste.
Born in France, Du Pont De Bie was bitten by the travel bug when very young, journeying with her mother and sister to exotic places, including Marrakesh (when she was only five), Asia and India. So, when she reads Traditional Recipes of Laos, by Phia Sing, chef to the Lao royal family, which was edited by the late, great food historian Alan Davidson, Du Pont De Bie knows she's found the perfect combination of her interests. She changes her plans to go to Vietnam and heads off on her own for a five-month trek through Laos. She writes about her adventures in various towns - from tiny villages off the beaten tourist track to larger places such as Vientiane and Luang Prabang. Each chapter ends with recipes for the dishes she's just described.
Du Pont De Bie is curious and observant, describing what she sees with passion. She writes in as much detail - but with disgust, not passion - about some of the foreign trekkers she encounters: the ones looking for drugs and bargains, who don't realise or care about the poverty of the people they exploit.