A gastronomic world tour in which Tom Vernon, well-known as the Fat Man on a Bicycle, samples the kitchens and restaurants of twelve very different countries–Australia, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Pakistan, China, Hong Kong, Japan and England–and discovers a feast of contrasting culinary traditions. A genial and informative companion in front of the kitchen stove, he lightheartedly comments on the vagaries of national character, climate and geography that have given rise to wide-ranging differences in tastes and appetite.

Tom Vernon has presented two series of Fat Man in the Kitchen on BBC 2. The series came to life as part of an international co-operative exercise in film-making, each country involved contributing a programme featuring its own regional dishes, and the recipes shown in the series and included in this book are therefore those of the countless cooks–professional chefs as well as enthusiastic amateurs–who were chosen by the participating countries to demonstrate their national cuisines.

Today exotic fruits and vegetables are flown in year-round from all over the world, and esoteric ingredients are readily available in specialist food shops. It is the age of the global kitchen, and this selection of recipes from around the world is as various as the nations to whom they belong: ranging from the buried salmon and Lucy Cats of Sweden, to Chinese and Japanese delicacies, and even a 'beloved's eyeball' from Pakistan.