The Jamisons, authors of over a dozen cookbooks and travel guides including four James Beard Award-winning titles, have a background so ideally suited to producing this book that it's a wonder it took them 20 years. Part guidebook, part memoir, and part cookbook, it features a narrative that flows along like a conversation with extremely well-traveled friends.

The fall of 2005, Cheryl and Bill Jamison went on an exciting global odyssey, using their frequent flyer miles to get from here to there. But first, they had to wrangle with the airlines and make reservations at hotels at their many destinations. They also had to shop for clothes that wouldn't immediately brand them as Americans and that would last for three long and arduous months and also that would have elastic waistbands, since this jaunt was to focus on lots of yummy food. So off they went. First to Bali, where they ignored the tourist haunts of coastal Bali in search of the simple authentic flavours found in the central highlands. This stop was also a second honeymoon for the two. Then to Australia, to taste its foods and wines, and on to the sensuous South Pacific, where they traveled to the relatively unknown French territory of New Caledonia and its small capital, Noumea, called 'the Paris of the Pacific'. Singapore for street food. Thailand for luscious contrasts in textures and flavors. China's Chiu Chow cuisine. The spicy cooking of Southern India. South Africa and a safari cookout, plus wild animals on the roam. Simple food in Provence and the Creole passions of Salvador, Brazil. Lastly, a book from the Jamisons wouldn't be complete without some recipes.