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Cover of Around the World in 80 Dinners
Book details

Around the World in 80 Dinners

The Ultimate Culinary Adventure

by Cheryl Alters Jamison, Bill Jamison

Published 2008272 pagesISBN 978-0-0608-7895-5

Join Cheryl and Bill Jamison, James Beard Award winners of The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining, on a gastronomic tour around the world After years of writing award-winning cookbooks, renowned culinary experts Cheryl and Bill Jamison were ready to take a break. So in the fall of 2005 they packed their bags, locked up their house in Santa Fe, and set off on a three-month-long visit to ten countries—all on frequent-flier miles.Among their stops were:BaliWhere they celebrated a second honeymoon in Ubud and encountered a rogue monkeyAustraliaWhere they found the world's best breakfast sandwich and visited family-owned wineriesThailandWhere they took a wild ride on an elephant in an enormous forest reserveIndiaWhere they found themselves in the midst of Diwali, the Festival of LightsChinaWhere they attended a banquet of local Chiu Chow cuisine that required hours of preparation by the "Emeril of Chaozhou" and forty cooksSouth AfricaWhere they went on a safari among rhinos, giraffes, and very hungry lionsBrazilWhere they soaked in the sun and Creole flavors of the coastal town of SalvadorCombining the intelligence and humor of Anthony Bourdain with the charm and insight of Frances Mayes, Around the World in 80 Dinners transforms traveling into an unforgettable odyssey.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.

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What the reading experience may hold

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Themes to notice

Nonfiction · Fiction

Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.

Content notes

Catalog signals suggest warfare and conflict. These notes may not be complete; consult a publisher or reader-supplied guide when detailed warnings matter.

These notes are inferred from available catalog information and may not be complete. Check a publisher or reader-supplied guide if you need comprehensive warnings.

Reading experience

Dark tone · Urgent pace

A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.

Who it may suit

A good fit if…

Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.

At a glance

This book's DNA

A visual estimate based on this edition's categories, description, and length. Select a star to explore the signals.

ToneDark
LuminousDark

This signal is descriptive, not a rating. It helps compare the kind of reading experience this edition may offer.

No plot details

Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc

A broad estimate of the book’s emotional rhythm, shown without story events or outcomes.

Spoiler-free
12345
PeakRelative emotional intensity
Around the World in 80 DinnersCheryl Alters Jamison, Bill Jamison
Powerful5/5

This visualization is an interpretive estimate based on catalog description, categories, tone, pace, and content signals. It does not describe specific scenes.

Before you choose

A quick reading snapshot

Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.

Reading lengthA standard-length read272 pages in this edition
Publication eraModernFirst published or edition dated 2008
Primary categoryNonfictionAlso cataloged under Fiction
ISBN-13
978-0-0608-7895-5
Language
English
Edition record
OL9950941M
BookenDeX editorial lens

A more thoughtful way into this book

This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.

Good to know

A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.

Begin with its place in Nonfiction, then notice where the book resists that label.

Try this reading approach

Read for connection, not completion.

Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.

Three questions to carry with you

  1. Whose perspective organizes the story, and whose perspective remains outside it?
  2. Which sources or lived experiences carry the author’s central argument?
  3. How does the book change the way you understand its larger subject?

Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.