Fiction book read around 2015-2017 (maybe published then)- tale of the life of a man with an affinity (almost fetish) for foods- simple to rare/exotic) and his journey from poverty to nobility

[Sandra]

I read this book, I believe, sometime around 2016 upon its release and recommendation (staff pick) at a small bookstore in Steamboat Springs, CO. The story is of a foreign man born into poverty, but having some obscure tie to nobility. He is moved from poverty (includes a scene of him sitting outside tasting the excrement of a dung beetle, I believe), to eventual nobility and wealth. He has a strong affinity for the senses, especially that of taste. He documents his experiences and encounters with food with notes and how to properly cook them. At some point, he has a sprawling estate with a menagerie of exotic animals. There is a sex scene that involves candle and dripping of candle wax. At some point the narrator meets a historical American figure (maybe Thomas Edison? Maybe someone else?) who has an interest in the man as well as women in the story. At the story’s conclusion, the narrator has an opportunity to taste the one type of meat he had never had- human flesh of a young boy that was killed.he documents the preparation and the description of the “meal”.

[Capn]

Oof - have you scrolled through the "Cannibalism" lists?

https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag?ut...

Or maybe "Culinary Fiction"?
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

[Joseph]

Maybe Appetite, by Philip Kazan?

I also thought of Suskin's Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

[Sandra]

No luck with the above suggestions, but some good recommendations for new reads!

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Set where? Country/region/city etc.
Author's gender?
Cover?