A tour of everything the governments of the world don't want you to try.
My wife picked this one up on a whim at a reduction sale in Wales. I had never heard of Canadian author Taras Grescoe and neither had she. I guess what triggered the decision was the sub-title. Who can resist something that provides even a hint of reading about government conspiracies?
A difficult book to classify - travelogue, food writing, philosophy, ethics review? Taras Grescoe sets off on a journey to literally taste the forbidden fruit (hence the title). He starts off in Norway on a quest for hjemmebrent, local moonshine, and discovers a whole world of Norwegian alcoholism and drug abuse. In the rest of the book he covers the issue of chewing gum in Singapore with an analysis of the totalitarian regime there; goes on a gastronomic trip to Spain to try, among other things, bull's testicles (unfortunately out of season and he has to do with that of a pig); Europe chasing the origins of absinthe (remember Johnny Depp in From Hell?), chocolate and cheese; Bolivia hunting for the coca leaf and the effect of the US War on Drugs; New York, to assess the effect of the smoking ban; Switzerland, to research assisted suicides and the euthanasia debate.
It's whirlwind journey marked by erudite prose; incident level description interspersed with critical analysis of the ethical dilemmas that prohibition provokes. Smart, funny and thought provoking - this is an excellent read.
As an aside, did you know that in the Geneva treaty covering the transportation of narcotic substances, there is a specific loophole designed to allow Coca Cola to import coca leafs into the United States to make Coke?
Pick this one up. Definitely worth your time.
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