Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It All with the Greatest Chef in the World

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars | 352 ratings

Price: 5.25

Last update: 02-13-2025


About this item

A food critic chronicles four years spent traveling with René Redzepi, the renowned chef of Noma, in search of the most tantalizing flavors the world has to offer.

"If you want to understand modern restaurant culture, you need to read this book." (Ruth Reichl, author of Save Me the Plums)

Hungry is a book about not only the hunger for food, but for risk, for reinvention, for creative breakthroughs, and for connection.

Feeling stuck in his work and home life, writer Jeff Gordinier happened into a fateful meeting with Danish chef René Redzepi, whose restaurant, Noma, has been called the best in the world. A restless perfectionist, Redzepi was at the top of his game but was looking to tear it all down, to shutter his restaurant and set out for new places, flavors, and recipes. This is the story of the subsequent four years of globe-trotting culinary adventure, with Gordinier joining Redzepi as his Sancho Panza.

In the jungle of the Yucatán peninsula, Redzepi and his comrades go off-road in search of the perfect taco. In Sydney, they forage for sea rocket and sandpaper figs in suburban parks and on surf-lashed beaches. On a boat in the Arctic Circle, a lone fisherman guides them to what may or may not be his secret cache of the world’s finest sea urchins. And back in Copenhagen, the quiet canal-lined city where Redzepi started it all, he plans the resurrection of his restaurant on the unlikely site of a garbage-filled lot. Along the way, listeners meet Redzepi’s merry band of friends and collaborators, including acclaimed chefs such as Danny Bowien, Kylie Kwong, Rosio Sánchez, David Chang, and Enrique Olvera.

Hungry is a memoir, a travelogue, a portrait of a chef, and a chronicle of the moment when daredevil cooking became the most exciting and groundbreaking form of artistry.

Praise for Hungry

“In Hungry, Gordinier invokes such playful and lush prose that the scents of mole, chiles, and even lingonberry juice waft off the page.” (Time)

“This wonderful book is really about the adventures of two men: a great chef and a great journalist. Hungry is a feast for the senses, filled with complex passion and joy, bursting with life. Not only did Jeff Gordinier make me want to jump on the next flight (to Mexico, Copenhagen, Sydney) in search of the perfect meal, but he also reminded me to stop and savor the ride.” (Dani Shapiro, author of Inheritance)


Top reviews from the United States

  • Daniel T. Crocker
    5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring
    Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2019
    It's been a while since I read through a book so quickly - a testament to the author's engaging writing. The surface theme - following the frenetic pace of a world-renowned chef in his quest to innovate repeatedly - is interesting enough. But what I really liked about the author was his willingness to touch, from time to time, upon the deeper issues of addressing challenges in his personal and professional life. And reading it inspired me to revisit the years that I spent in Latin America and Europe and learning to appreciate new tastes and combinations that evolved over centuries. One personal note: the author often seems to question how he was selected to be part of the band of super-chefs that the protagonist assembles for each location of a new restaurant. As someone who knew the author well in college but hasn't seen him since, I suspect that it is because he is excellent company. And when I return to Mexico in a few weeks, I will be imagining his voice in my head, urging me to seek out moles and avoid the tourist traps.

    I look forward to reading more publications in the future from Jeff Gordinier. And I highly recommend this book, even if you are not a foodie, but have a sense of adventure and admiration for those who are driven to discover, share, and innovate.
  • Ken Pilcher
    4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but badly described
    Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2021
    The description makes this sound as if we will follow Redzepi around the world discovering new tastes and new taste combinations, and that Gardenier will be there to chronicle it. That is not what happens. It is a good but not great look into how "the greatest chef in the world" approaches his culinary life. It is a nice rumination on taste. But it fails to do any one thing well: it gives us few details to understand what this adventure means to the author as his marriage ends and another begins; it fails to connect the vignettes of the international popup restaurants and culinary side trips to the greater arc of Noma 2.0; and it does better at giving us a bio of Redzepi, but doesn't really pry off that lid either. Ultimately I ended this rather short book with my appetite not sated.
  • Daniel Castor Consignment
    5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring, terrific read! (to go with your office lunch)
    Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2019
    After years of rumors about "that restaurant in Copenhagen" I was finally able to understand what all the fuss was about. And I'm not talking about the food, although there is plenty of that served up in the book. The story is rather about what is behind the food, the restaurant, and the institution it has become. It is about the passion of the chef and the people he has gathered around him, to pursue an ideal. The author has somehow scored not only a ticket to dinner, but an invitation to bear witness to the grueling process by which such a dinner comes into being, and the furious determination required to pull it off. His headlong account of the subject left me stressed out and inspired in equal measure. Good job, Jeff Gordinier. Now go and take a vacation. You've earned it.
    Customer image
    Daniel Castor Consignment
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    An inspiring, terrific read! (to go with your office lunch)

    Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2019
    After years of rumors about "that restaurant in Copenhagen" I was finally able to understand what all the fuss was about. And I'm not talking about the food, although there is plenty of that served up in the book. The story is rather about what is behind the food, the restaurant, and the institution it has become. It is about the passion of the chef and the people he has gathered around him, to pursue an ideal. The author has somehow scored not only a ticket to dinner, but an invitation to bear witness to the grueling process by which such a dinner comes into being, and the furious determination required to pull it off. His headlong account of the subject left me stressed out and inspired in equal measure. Good job, Jeff Gordinier. Now go and take a vacation. You've earned it.
    Images in this review
  • Jeremy Toback
    5.0 out of 5 stars More than a Road Trip
    Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2019
    The headline should probably be Risking it All. What are we all looking for in life? Countless books talk about vulnerability and taking great risks. We hear mostly about the successes, especially when it concerns superstar chefs. But what about the failures or the near misses? Or most importantly, what about the risks that we never hear about, because they never happened?

    For me that's what Hungry is about. Beyond the culinary backdrop, it's about an opening up to possibilities where none exist, conjuring up scenarios that stretch beyond our own limited self perceptions and world views. Yes, we can dream big and decide to take that leap, but what if you met someone in your life that said, “that’s a nice dream but when I met you, I saw this….” And what if that “this” was so deeply buried in your psyche, so buried you couldn’t and wouldn’t even go there?

    That’s how I imagine how it went down with Rene and Jeff. And this goes beyond the personal connection...Both between Jeff and Rene, and also between Jeff and me, who happens to be a good friend. I deeply appreciate how Rene sees the world. After reading Hungry, I pondered upon it on my morning hike. I started to see perhaps that there were culinary possibilities all around me... “hmm,does that plant have a yummy taste profile? Can I use it and how?” What else was I not seeing that was right in front of me? And I loved learning about culinary connections I hadn’t even thought about.

    I also appreciate the vulnerability that Jeff displays in the dissolution of his marriage. Marriage can be messy. We all know that, and divorce with kids can be even messier. It’s never perfect. Ever. But here’s the deal, all relationships can get messy and we grow, we learn, we change, or not. We do our best and if this doesn’t apply to you, well then you’re missing out on something.

    Hungry is an honest book. People can be superstars and it’s important to remember that they’re still people. They just take bigger risks. So the question I ask myself and the reader is: “Where are you willing to take a risk to succeed or fail? Who’s your Rene Redzepi?"
  • 311Cuyler
    5.0 out of 5 stars Unexpectedly Powerful
    Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2019
    Having seen Gordinier's work in the New York Times and Esquire I expected a well-written, fun yet detailed and interesting read about places I'll probably never go and food I'll almost certainly never eat, and I got that, but I also got so much more. I was not ready for the emotional impact of chef and author going deep into cuisine, relationships and their own souls.

    In a world of information overload, it was such a treat to encounter a book so concise and engrossing that I read it in just a few days yet am still thinking about its themes of culture, ambition, change and meaning a long time after I put it down.

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