LettersOnPages
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This is a reprint of my review of The Man Who Ate The World. This...and other reviews...can be found at Letters on Pages (address in my signature)
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Title: The Man Who Ate The World
Author: Jay Rayner
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company (2008)
This book made me hungry. Really hungry. The author, Jay Rayner, warned that this would happen in the introduction...and he was right. Rayner is a restaurant critic for various places, including the London Observer. He has written a couple of well received novels and has won awards for his journalism skills. His writing in this book is no different...very fun to read.
The Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner follows Rayner around the world as he eats at the finest restaurants he can find. The book is broken into chapters about each city that he visits: Las Vegas, Moscow, Dubai, Tokyo, New York & Paris. It was interesting to hear about the restaurant life in each of those cities. As you can imagine, Paris is the best.
It is funny to read this because he lists all of the foods that he ate at these establishments...and I had no idea what a lot of them were. I suppose this means I am not very cultured because I had to wikipedia things like "foie gras" (fatty duck or goose liver) and "turbot with Welsh rarebit" (flatfish with sauce"). My uncouthishness is pretty embarrassing actually. I blame my parents.
The book is filled with really funny stories from his youth and food writing experiences...which is good because at times it felt a bit tedious to read descriptions of every meal he ate. (yes, I realize that was the point of the book). But the chapter I enjoyed the most was his gastronomical assault on Paris where he took on a "Super-Size Me" like mission to eat 7 consecutive meals at a Michelin 3-star restaurant. Finishing at a place that cost $700 a head! And he didn't even like that one!
The entire book is very well written and will keep you entertained as you travel across the globe reading about food that other people got to enjoy.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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Title: The Man Who Ate The World
Author: Jay Rayner
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company (2008)
This book made me hungry. Really hungry. The author, Jay Rayner, warned that this would happen in the introduction...and he was right. Rayner is a restaurant critic for various places, including the London Observer. He has written a couple of well received novels and has won awards for his journalism skills. His writing in this book is no different...very fun to read.
The Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner follows Rayner around the world as he eats at the finest restaurants he can find. The book is broken into chapters about each city that he visits: Las Vegas, Moscow, Dubai, Tokyo, New York & Paris. It was interesting to hear about the restaurant life in each of those cities. As you can imagine, Paris is the best.
It is funny to read this because he lists all of the foods that he ate at these establishments...and I had no idea what a lot of them were. I suppose this means I am not very cultured because I had to wikipedia things like "foie gras" (fatty duck or goose liver) and "turbot with Welsh rarebit" (flatfish with sauce"). My uncouthishness is pretty embarrassing actually. I blame my parents.
The book is filled with really funny stories from his youth and food writing experiences...which is good because at times it felt a bit tedious to read descriptions of every meal he ate. (yes, I realize that was the point of the book). But the chapter I enjoyed the most was his gastronomical assault on Paris where he took on a "Super-Size Me" like mission to eat 7 consecutive meals at a Michelin 3-star restaurant. Finishing at a place that cost $700 a head! And he didn't even like that one!
The entire book is very well written and will keep you entertained as you travel across the globe reading about food that other people got to enjoy.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
