- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Headline Review; First Edition edition (3 April 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0755316347
- ISBN-13: 978-0755316342
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 13.6 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 227,164 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
'A witty world tour of gastronomic culture' -- Scotland on Sunday 20080330
Product Description
The Man Who Ate The World is a journey through the great cities of the world. It’s about extraordinary restaurants and the people who visit them. It’s about the globalisation of high culture, the market in taste and the money spent on it. And, of course, it’s about dinner. From Las Vegas to Moscow, Dubai to Tokyo and New York to London, Jay Rayner chronicles the revolution in high-end gastronomy that has been sweeping the world since the late eighties. Not simply an account of endless meals in high-end restaurants, it is an exploration of the cities and cultures in which they are found; the inevitable involvement of Russian mafia in Moscow’s luxury post-soviet catering business, Tokyo’s efforts to fuse ancient Asian culture with Western ideas, and the feverish cult of the Manhattan restaurant in a town which considers itself the most cosmopolitan in the world. Part character-driven travelogue, part food critique, always sharp and often funny, this book is the result of Jay's lifelong campaign to find the perfect meal. Just don’t read it if you’re hungry.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have not read too much of Jay Rayner's work in the papers, or his novels, so this is my introduction to the man and his appetite. I completely fell in love with his writing - I think he has the most beautiful, original, and apt turn of phrase of any food writer I can think of today. And so funny! It must take him days to think up some of those lines. They continue to give me pleasure now.
But he has a lot of acute and important observations to make about the fine dining restaurant business, and like another reviewer, I was particularly appreciative of his comments re: Ramsay et al, and global brand domination, and insights into the dubious world of the Moscow restaurant scene. This all sounds very dull - in his skilled hands, it really isn't, it's absolutely compelling, and good to know someone (thankfully a warrior-sized someone) is pointing the finger.
I don't agree that Rayner likes restaurants populated by stick-thin posh types - in fact, he repeatedly asks questions about the nature of who it is that eats in top-class restaurants, and whether or not they are the kind who would most appreciate what it is that they are eating, and paying top dollar for. And he's scrupulously honest about his own membership to this elite club, and what that means about him, and his future eating habits and pleasures.
This reads like a novel in some ways (which makes sense, I guess), in that Rayner goes on a journey, there's a learning curve. He starts out starry-eyed, ambitious, somewhat in thrall to the restaurant auteurs, but falls out of love on more than one occasion with them, with the excesses and wastage that attend fine dining, and with writing about food for a living. He challenges himself. He has revelations. He is humbled. And finally, towards the end, finds a way back to loving to eat, and to doing what he does best.
I find Jay the perfect dining companion. I urge others to seek out his company - and a good few interesting dinners - in these pages too.
But he has a lot of acute and important observations to make about the fine dining restaurant business, and like another reviewer, I was particularly appreciative of his comments re: Ramsay et al, and global brand domination, and insights into the dubious world of the Moscow restaurant scene. This all sounds very dull - in his skilled hands, it really isn't, it's absolutely compelling, and good to know someone (thankfully a warrior-sized someone) is pointing the finger.
I don't agree that Rayner likes restaurants populated by stick-thin posh types - in fact, he repeatedly asks questions about the nature of who it is that eats in top-class restaurants, and whether or not they are the kind who would most appreciate what it is that they are eating, and paying top dollar for. And he's scrupulously honest about his own membership to this elite club, and what that means about him, and his future eating habits and pleasures.
This reads like a novel in some ways (which makes sense, I guess), in that Rayner goes on a journey, there's a learning curve. He starts out starry-eyed, ambitious, somewhat in thrall to the restaurant auteurs, but falls out of love on more than one occasion with them, with the excesses and wastage that attend fine dining, and with writing about food for a living. He challenges himself. He has revelations. He is humbled. And finally, towards the end, finds a way back to loving to eat, and to doing what he does best.
I find Jay the perfect dining companion. I urge others to seek out his company - and a good few interesting dinners - in these pages too.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Many of the snippets on the covers of the book claimed that it would make the reader laugh out loud. Well, it didn't, but this is a very nice tale of a food critic who goes off in the search of the most perfect meal that can be had. He does approach the task with sense of festiveness in most cases, and he can be as sarcastic as any food critic can be when the time for that is right, not least about himself. Particularly fun for me was his chapter on the garish nouveau-riche of Russia, as I live next door in Latvia. Of great interest was the chapter in which the author had a Michelin-starred meal every day for an entire week ... an experience which may sound delightful to the uninitiated, of course, but ... well, read for yourself. This is certainly a very fine book for foodies. Mr Rayner is a well-known critic, and I read the book with great interest. Only without laughing out loud.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Resaturant critic for the Observer Jay Rayner decides to try and explore the best restaurants in the world by eating the best meals in 7 of the world's great cities. However, he is struck not by the magnificence of the food but by the theatricality and artificiality of the experience in cities such as Las Vegas and Moscow and begins to question the worth of such temples of food.
Rayner knows his subject well and explores the development of current culinary fads in a gentle and humourous way- he writes tenderly about the meals he particularly enjoys describing what makes the experience so memorable but he is also honest and informative about the meals that he doesn't enjoy. He contemplates the effect that eating such banquets may have on his health and he writes about the creators of the meals with warmth and affection.
Yet at the end of the book, we are left questioning whether eating expensive tasting meals at the world's great restaurants is just an exercise in ostentation. Rayner rightly considers the environmental impact of the demand for such food.
This is a wise and interesting book that opens the doors of such places for those of us who can't afford the luxurious meals and describes superb meals in sumptuous detail but which also considers the darker side to such establishments.
Rayner knows his subject well and explores the development of current culinary fads in a gentle and humourous way- he writes tenderly about the meals he particularly enjoys describing what makes the experience so memorable but he is also honest and informative about the meals that he doesn't enjoy. He contemplates the effect that eating such banquets may have on his health and he writes about the creators of the meals with warmth and affection.
Yet at the end of the book, we are left questioning whether eating expensive tasting meals at the world's great restaurants is just an exercise in ostentation. Rayner rightly considers the environmental impact of the demand for such food.
This is a wise and interesting book that opens the doors of such places for those of us who can't afford the luxurious meals and describes superb meals in sumptuous detail but which also considers the darker side to such establishments.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A very narrow search for the perfect meal
Rayner may dismiss the 'cult of authenticity' but his absolute worship of the cult of exclusivity means that all you get from this book is a snobby and self-indulgent account of... Read more
Published 17 days ago by Adds
Not entirely palatable
I love food but I'm no foodie. Stiff, starched Michelin-starred restaurants are my idea of hell - as they are Rayner's wife's - so the author's globe-trotting in search of the... Read more
Published on 31 May 2010 by N. Griffiths
Undigested
Sorry to begin on a wail of pure arrogance, but how many of Rayner's cheer squad have actually eaten in the places he describes? I found him ludicrously dyspeptic. Read more
Published on 22 April 2008 by D. M. Purkiss
Man Who Ate the World
Delightful read, witty, engaging and wonderfully written.
If you're a keen foodie, this should be on your shelf. Read more
If you're a keen foodie, this should be on your shelf. Read more
Published on 13 April 2008 by Rebekah M
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