Delicious!: Poems Celebrating Street Food around the World

by Julie Larios, Julie Paschkis (Illustrations)

Journey around the world with this poetry collection celebrating delicious international street food!

The world is a delicious place! Come along on an international journey to try a hot pretzel in New York City; saffron tea in Mumbai, India; deep fried scorpions in Beijing, China; and much, much more.

This poetry collection celebrates all the different kinds of street food from around the globe, introducing young readers to snacks they know and ones they’ve never heard of—showing that no matter where we live, we all appreciate a yummy treat!

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Food, Cultural, Nonfiction, Juvenile, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

Published April 13, 2021

Reviews

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's National Poetry Month here. Who could resist a book of poems about the various kinds of street food around the world? And it's written by the wonderful Julie Larios, a gifted Cybils judge last year, and illustrated by her friend and fellow-Julie, Julie Paschkis.
Here's a sample poem, just to give you the "flavor," if you will:



Beautiful, right? Just beautiful.

Now let's zoom into the words, shall we?

MARKET BREAKFAST

OAXACA, MEXICO

Steaming cup of champurrado,

panecitos, cinnamon churros---

mmm, mmm! Delicioso!

Lovebirds chirp: Pio! Pio!

Now let's take a look at all the food words from the poem. Champurrado. Panecitos. Cinnamon churros. Are these new to you as they are to me?



Champurrado. "Champurrado is a chocolate-based...warm and thick Mexican beverage, prepared with either masa de maíz, masa harina, or corn flour; piloncillo; water or milk; and occasionally containing cinnamon, anise seed, or vanilla. Ground nuts, orange zest, and egg can also be employed to thicken and enrich the drink." Doesn't that sound yummy? Here's a recipe for champurrado if you want to try it from Mexico in My Kitchen.



Panecitos. Panecitos are little breads, and come in a wide variety of shapes and flavors. The recipe I liked best is in Spanish and is from Las Recetas de Mamá here.



Cinnamon churros. Churros are a Spanish and Mexican pastry resembling a doughnut or cruller and made from deep-fried unsweetened dough and sprinkled with sugar. There's a fabulous recipe here from Cookin' Classy.

Whew! And that's just one poem. There are others with street foods from Russia, Tasmania, Peru, and many more. Wouldn't it be fun to read these poems during National Poetry Month and prepare street foods to go along with the poems each day?

As for me, I'm delighted to find a book that combines my love for poetry, words, foods, travel, languages, and picture books, all in one place.

[Lisa D · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful book about street vendors all over the world! This is an amazing & beautiful book that should win awards!

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Colorful, vibrant art accompanies the short, fun poems. If not part of the main illustration, food appears in the border art which also shares other bits from the poem or about the country.

I wish the information at the back for each location poem included what the foods are. I have no idea why the paragraph for Oaxaca mentions deep-fried grasshoppers which aren't part of the poem or art, while no explanation for panecitos or churros. And Tasmania info is about the Tasmanian devils--also not even pictured. What is bandu? pelmeni? (S. Korean and Russia respectively) At least tiropitakia and bissop water are explained.

[Lizette Bernardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author of this poem is an NCTE Excellence Award! She uses extremely bright and colorful illustrations to draw the reader in. She reveals a theme of culture from places all over the world through food and drinks they make. Each piece of poetry is interesting because each one contains a different setting. This would make a great read aloud and library book to teach students about all cultures and their differences.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

First sentence:

Syrian shawarma wrapped in a pita?
Biryani? Pork carnitas?
Maybe I'll get a hot falafel.
Schnitzel? Pretzel? Sesame noodles?
Cajun? Lebanese? Cuban? Thai?
So many choices! What should I try?


Premise/plot: Delicious! is a picture book poetry collection celebrating street food. It opens with "Carts in the Park," set in New York City. Each poem brings readers to another country, celebrates another culture, and introduces (perhaps) a new food. Each poem is complemented with a full page illustration. The illustrations are bright, bold, beautiful.

Countries visited include the United States, Mexico, Israel, Morocco, Australia, Russia, Peru, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Greece, Senegal, and China.

At the end of the book, the author shares "an international menu of sweets and treats" which provides readers with more information about each country (culture, food) celebrated within the book.

For example, to accompany the poem, "Winter Meal" (Russia), she shares:

Brrrr! Winters in Russia can get very cold, so food carts in Saint Petersburg usually sell hot drinks and savory pastries during the winter. But while winter days are short and dark, summer days are long: during the "white nights" of midsummer, the daylight in Saint Petersburg never totally disappears.

My thoughts: I liked this one. I think it's a treat of a book. I liked that the poems were short. It may seem like a little thing, but poems about serious subjects or abstract subjects can be intimidating. I like that the poems were about FOOD. Everyone can relate to food, to eating, to enjoying good company while eating. While not every reader may not want to eat a FRIED SCORPION (for example), this book has plenty of good conversation starters.

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vibrant and lyrical, this is a celebration of food, which hits taste buds from all corners of the globe.

Snacking is a world-wide, favorite past time, but food varies greatly from one culture to the next. This book takes a look at some well-known foods but mostly at lesser known ones, which kids around the world enjoy. Everything from fried scorpions to hotdogs, it's a vast array of tastes and treats.

Each two-page spread covers a country and food, which might be found at street vendors. The illustration shows children of that country getting their favorite treats from various sellers, and these scenes are surrounded by a colorful, busy, and artistic frame. It's bright and colorful and radiates a joyful atmosphere. The food items are shown, but these are small and only a little part of the overall images.

A short poem accompanies each of these scenes. The few lines make for an easy read, while keeping the food of each culture at the center of attention. Young listeners won't recognize all of the dishes, and that's half of the fun. For those seeking more information, there's a short summary of each country and the mentioned food at the end of the book. There are some very unexpected morsels, and some listeners are sure to have heard of themselves. It opens up curiosity and will have kids wondering what each one tastes like...and maybe, wanting to try some themselves.

I received a complimentary copy and enjoyed the artistic flair while learning about food.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time for some poetry, a lovely new book from Julie Larios and Julie Paschkis that celebrates street food all over the world. Larios' poems are sweet and if you don't know the food or drink she celebrates, pictures by Paschkis surround the poem with another picture centered on the children who do enjoy it. For example, a 'hurrah' for "Lemon slushies,/Licorice sweets,/and fish and chips on Thistle Street" hales from "Down Under - Launceston, Tasmania, Australia." One can find "Saffron tea/from a red clay cup–" in Mumbai, India, or (really) "Deep-friend scorpions on a stick!" from Beijing, China. There are extra paragraphs telling more about each food at the back. What I enjoyed most of all were the illustrations by Paschkis of the children enjoying the treats from all over the world. It's a lovely book, perhaps for one's own sampling of new kinds of treats?

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poetic tour around the world to sample street food from many nations and cultures.

This includes a good variety of locations from around the world and different types of street food. I like that each page clearly includes the location and that in the back of the book there's more information on each location and food item as well as other common street food dishes in those places. Some of these food options may have kids squealing, especially the deep fried scorpion in China. The poems are short and simple, and most rhyme.

[Suna Shafie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I greatly enjoyed this book of poems that centered around foods of the world. It was a fun, enjoyable read and it was nice to learn how to interpret poetry. A unique topic, the poems did a great job at teaching the reader while making me hungry in the process! A younger child may not enjoy this one as much, but any food lover should definitely love it! I recommend it also because of the illustrations and how they went well with the story.

[Mackenzie Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book Delicious! Poems Celebrating Street Food Around the World by Julie Larios and Julie Paschkis is a beautiful and extremely colorful book. This is another great book to expose children to many different types of food along with different types of cultures. Along with that the setting of the book changes with the culture to give visuals as to what the culture and food look like.

[A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this made me HUNGRY! Brief rhyming poems cover continents and cuisines to introduce young readers to street food snacks from around the world. Bright illustrations fill each page with regionally inspired motifs.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very short poems about different kinds of street food from around the world. The illustrations were as fun as the poems. I would have liked the back matter to be consistent when explaining foods.

Read for Librarian Book Group

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun poems and I love the patterns in the illustrations

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars for these poems about food

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely a very random book with poems about street food from around the world. I did find it interesting to learn about the different foods and where they're from.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of fun pictures and poems about interesting food. I like how there is further explanations about the food in the back of the book.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

This made me want to try some new foods. Yum!

[Karina Calderon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and poems celebrating street food around the world and I loved the representation

[Thouas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoy this book around the world. It's a poetry book, cultural

[Nicole M. M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delicious! is a collection of poems celebrating foods from around the world. Each poem is simple and sweet, just enough to give the reader a tiny taste of the culture represented. The delicacies range from common foods that most kids will recognize to more exotic fare. At the back of the book, the author also shares a little more information about the street foods of each country. The illustrations each show colorfully patterned motifs that frame children enjoying the foods in question. This book is sure to tempt your taste buds!