The Man Who Ate Everything
Jeffrey Steingarten is to food writing what Bill Bryson is to travel writing. Whether he is hymning the joys of the perfect chip, discussing the taste of beef produced from Japanese cows which are massaged daily and fed on sake, or telling us the scientific reasons why salad is a 'silent killer',...
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Jeffrey Steingarten is to food writing what Bill Bryson is to travel writing. Whether he is hymning the joys of the perfect chip, discussing the taste of beef produced from Japanese cows which are massaged daily and fed on sake, or telling us the scientific reasons why salad is a 'silent killer', his humour and his love of good food never fail. The questions he asks (like 'Why aren't the French dropping like flies?') will challenge everything you assume you know about what you eat, yet his characteristic wit imparts masses of revelatory information in the most palatable of ways. A must for everyone who's ever enjoyed a meal - this book contains everything you ever wanted to know about food, but were too hungry to ask...
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ISBN:
9780747260974 (0747260974)
Edition language: English
Category:
Non Fiction,
Travel,
Humor,
Autobiography,
Memoir,
Writing,
Essays,
Food And Drink,
Food,
Cookbooks,
Cooking,
Foodie,
Food Writing
Steingarten's essays on food, more or less, from Vogue. Steingarten has a great ear for detail and makes many clever asides. He's funny when you agree with him, annoying when you don't. He has strong opinions about food, nutrition, and diets, often expressed in extremes, sometimes inaccurate (e.g., ...
I was tempted to give this only one star, but it seemed a bit too negative for a book I didn't actually have to force myself to finish. 1.5 would probably have been fitting, because at times this book was really, really, REALLY boring... the mere fact that I've been reading it for more than 6 months...
I'm not sure what I was expecting (having never read Steingarten previously), but it certainly wasn't this witty, entertaining, or well-researched. Really enjoyable.
Steingarten's ego is hard to ignore; one or two of the essays are interesting, but the rest are boring.
This is a book of small essays on food, eating, science, and one essay on pheromones(didn't understand where that came from!). I enjoyed some essays more than others. The author will go to great lengths to demystify a food or find the best recipe for a particular side of beef. Interesting.
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