Parker Bowles, Tom 1974- (Thomas Parker Bowles)

PERSONAL:

Born 1974; son of Andrew and Camilla Rosemary Parker Bowles; married Sara Buys (a journalist), September 10, 2005. Education: Attended Oxford University. Hobbies and other interests: Poker.

CAREER:

Food columnist for the Daily Mail, London, England, and Tatler magazine.

WRITINGS:

E Is for Eating: An Alphabet of Greed, illustrated by Matthew Rice, Long Barn Books, 2004.

The Year of Eating Dangerously: A Global Adventure in Search of Culinary Extremes, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Born in 1974, Tom Parker Bowles attended Eton and Oxford University before beginning his career as a food critic for the English newspaper Daily Mail and the Tatler magazine. Although Parker Bowles is well known in England as a food critic, he is also recognized as the stepson of Prince Charles. Parker Bowles's mother is Camilla Parker Bowles, Prince Charles's longtime mistress and eventual second wife. He is also an avid poker player, and because of his celebrity status as the stepchild of royalty, he participated in the second Celebrity Poker Club Series in 2004, reaching the final round. Despite his skill in cards, both of Parker Bowles's books are about food. The author's first book, E Is for Eating: An Alphabet of Greed, was illustrated by Matthew Rice and published in 2004.

Parker Bowles's second book, The Year of Eating Dangerously: A Global Adventure in Search of Culinary Extremes, was published to acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. The Year of Eating Dangerously is something of a food memoir in the style of well-known food personality Anthony Bourdain. Parker Bowles travels the world eating exotic, if not downright disgusting foods, recording his thoughts and reactions as he does so. Some of the book's highlights include Parker Bowles's consumption and description of Korean dog soup, blowfish, water beetle salad, silkworm pupae, and wood stew. In a profile of the author in People, Simon Perry noted that Parker Bowles "celebrates a number of savory discoveries in the book." Perry went on to state that Parker Bowles also discusses some foods that Western readers would consider normal. This is because "by testing more familiar fare as well as rare dishes that may not be for the faint of stomach, Parker Bowles … says he hopes to encourage different cultures to embrace each other's cuisines." Perry reported that Parker Bowles said: "The Chinese might see Stilton cheese and say … ‘You eat rotten milk with blue mold in it!’"

While some reviewers felt that Parker Bowles's publishing contract was issued based on his celebrity status, others found the book to be an enjoyable read. For instance, a Kirkus Reviews contributor stated that Parker Bowles "wins over his audience as a writer, describing dishes and sensations with … zeal … and his own hedonistic acts in delightful passages of unabashed bravado and self-deprecating humor."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Parker Bowles, Tom, The Year of Eating Dangerously: A Global Adventure in Search of Culinary Extremes, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2007.

PERIODICALS

Bookseller, August 13, 2004, "Hannah MacDonald at Ebury Has Signed a Food Book by Tom Parker Bowles, Whom She Describes as ‘A Major New Non-fiction Author,’" p. 23.

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2007, review of The Year of Eating Dangerously.

New York Times Book Review, December 2, 2007, Henry Alford, review of The Year of Eating Dangerously.

People, September 17, 2007, Simon Perry, "Who's Afraid of Raw Tripe Salad?," p. 159.

Times Educational Supplement, March 31, 2006, "Tom Parker Bowles: My Best Teacher," p. 4.

ONLINE

Everything2,http://everything2.net/ (May 25, 2008), author profile.