If only for Chuck Norris

"And because of this imagined world, America became an edible Emerald City, a culinary Kubla Khan where hot dogs paved the streets and Kool-Aid flowed from taps. A place where Chuck Norris took it in turns with Arnie to keep the peace, while Corey Haim kept the well-coiffed vampires at bay." (Tom Parker Bowles, The Year of Eating Dangerously)

Most food writing starts off with a bang, making you think that it'll be a must-add to your list on Facebook (the sole arbiter of your identity). Then it kind of ends with a few too many snapshots of the journey (especially if it's a book where the author travels), and not enough food. Which makes sense, because it's the end, you should have some reflections, et cetera. Same thing happened with this book: the intro was hilarious; the last part, a not entirely satisfying conclusion. But this might have been easily the best sentence I've read in a food book in '08: 90s pop culture mixed with a cultural vision (and obviously, the requisite food name-dropping).