- Hardcover: 176 pages
- Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY) (27 Nov 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0307383075
- ISBN-13: 978-0307383075
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 1.7 x 21.6 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 827,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
It was a time of innocence, nuclear families, traditional values . . . and BAD FOOD.
In an era where cooks wanted to put their best foot forward, there was no end to the creative, cost-efficient, and cream-based dishes that disgraced the family dinner table, the cocktail party, or the neighborhood BBQ. Recipes involving ingredients like ground meat, bananas, and cottage cheese sound innocent enough—unless you mix them all together in a strange attempt to cover every food group at once.
In Gastroanomalies, James Lileks gathers another remarkable assortment of dishes that once inspired cooks to brave new heights but now inspire sour stomachs and thoughts of “how did I survive?” Highlighted with excerpts from bizarre cookbooks (like Joan Crawford shilling for Bisquick), dubious images (is it meat or chocolate ice cream?), ads heralding the latest in kitchen technology (how about a bacon-egger?), and Lileks’s acerbic, off-the-wall commentary (“Put your ear close, and you can actually hear the meat screaming in terror”), Gastroanomalies is an irresistible retro documentation of a bygone era when artisanal cheese and vegetables lightly steamed (not boiled to mush) were still light-years away. Gastroanomalies will have foodies, baby boomers, and lovers of kitsch in stitches.
In an era where cooks wanted to put their best foot forward, there was no end to the creative, cost-efficient, and cream-based dishes that disgraced the family dinner table, the cocktail party, or the neighborhood BBQ. Recipes involving ingredients like ground meat, bananas, and cottage cheese sound innocent enough—unless you mix them all together in a strange attempt to cover every food group at once.
In Gastroanomalies, James Lileks gathers another remarkable assortment of dishes that once inspired cooks to brave new heights but now inspire sour stomachs and thoughts of “how did I survive?” Highlighted with excerpts from bizarre cookbooks (like Joan Crawford shilling for Bisquick), dubious images (is it meat or chocolate ice cream?), ads heralding the latest in kitchen technology (how about a bacon-egger?), and Lileks’s acerbic, off-the-wall commentary (“Put your ear close, and you can actually hear the meat screaming in terror”), Gastroanomalies is an irresistible retro documentation of a bygone era when artisanal cheese and vegetables lightly steamed (not boiled to mush) were still light-years away. Gastroanomalies will have foodies, baby boomers, and lovers of kitsch in stitches.
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29 reviews
47 of 48 people found the following review helpful
It's time for a potluck -- What Would Satan Do?
30 Nov 2007
Format:Hardcover
If I could, I would give this book six stars. I just bought it at my local Big Box Bookstore and sat down to read it in the store but literally had to leave because I was laughing so hard. People were looking at me funny. So I read it at home, making those alarming laugh-snort-gasping sounds. Now my dog is looking at me funny.
Once again, Jame Lileks skewers the horrible foods of the mid-20th century. How could things so bland and tasteless manage to look so disgusting? Why are the colors of these dishes brought to us by Technicolor on steroids? Yes, this was the era when " 'Mexican' meant three entire grains of pepper added to a gallon of tomato juice" and pizza crusts -- when pizza was consumed at all -- seemed to be made of Saltine cracker crumbs. Lileks also shows us what Satan brings to every darn potluck (Silly me. I thought he'd bring lutefisk.), and ponders the secret ingredient in the oceans of white sauce -- bleach, maybe?
If you loved Lileks's "Gallery of Regrettable Food" and thought it was one of the best humor books ever, like I did, come back for a hearty, heapin', second helping of lard-filled laughter, held up for your amusement in a colorful yet quivering aspic.
Once again, Jame Lileks skewers the horrible foods of the mid-20th century. How could things so bland and tasteless manage to look so disgusting? Why are the colors of these dishes brought to us by Technicolor on steroids? Yes, this was the era when " 'Mexican' meant three entire grains of pepper added to a gallon of tomato juice" and pizza crusts -- when pizza was consumed at all -- seemed to be made of Saltine cracker crumbs. Lileks also shows us what Satan brings to every darn potluck (Silly me. I thought he'd bring lutefisk.), and ponders the secret ingredient in the oceans of white sauce -- bleach, maybe?
If you loved Lileks's "Gallery of Regrettable Food" and thought it was one of the best humor books ever, like I did, come back for a hearty, heapin', second helping of lard-filled laughter, held up for your amusement in a colorful yet quivering aspic.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Wanna eat less? Skim through this first!
29 Nov 2007
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The chapter on "how to drive off your husband with lousy cooking" is some of the funniest, horriblest photography and writing I've had the pleasure of reading in months. Lileks is wonderfully droll.
The meat dishes are disgusting. What on earth were these folks thinking?
For samples of the author's sense of humor, his website is www.lileks.com. If you like what you see, buy his books and keep him in business.
The meat dishes are disgusting. What on earth were these folks thinking?
For samples of the author's sense of humor, his website is www.lileks.com. If you like what you see, buy his books and keep him in business.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
SHOW HER MR. BANANA!
1 Dec 2007
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
James Lileks has done it again. I'm still fondest of THE GALLERY OF REGRETTABLE FOOD and INTERIOR DESECRATORS but GASTROANOMALIES deserves a place of (dis)honour near these worthy tomes. This time there is no attempt to explain the origins of the revolting dishes (with one exception: 'food' from Austalia that explains why that country's liberal immigration laws have greatly improved its cuisine since the time of this 'cookbook's' publication--it couldn't have gotten any worse!)
I think Mr. Lileks' creative writing is at its best in the "Please let her pick the bananas" section.
I wonder if any of these dishes were actually prepared by the victi--uh, cooks. If people then were like people now, the books were just for lookin'. Maybe some of the pictures were intended for dieters--you won't want to eat after viewing some of the greasier, sugarier examples in this appallingly hilarious book.
I think Mr. Lileks' creative writing is at its best in the "Please let her pick the bananas" section.
I wonder if any of these dishes were actually prepared by the victi--uh, cooks. If people then were like people now, the books were just for lookin'. Maybe some of the pictures were intended for dieters--you won't want to eat after viewing some of the greasier, sugarier examples in this appallingly hilarious book.
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