Jay Rayner

Follows a restaurant critic probing the larger issues behind the globalization of eating out, in a culinary study of topics ranging from the commercialization of culinary artisans to the consequences of esoteric menus.

In Search of the Perfect Dinner

The Man Who Ate the World

Steven Ovadia

A really wonderful, amazing book!

I picked it up out of curiosity, having seen Rayner as a Top chef judge, but this is probably one of the best food books I've ever read. Rayner understands that you cannot separate food from culture, so his explorations of the global food culture are almost sociological. He doesn't just talk about what's on the plate; he also discusses how it got there and why it was put there.

Also, Rayner strikes a great balance between breathlessly fawning over expensive food and needlessly putting it down. He really gets across how inconsistent dining experiences can be.

An astronomical gastronomical undertaking —one of the world's preeminent restaurant critics takes on the giants of haute cuisine, one tasting menu at a time Like the luxury fashion companies Gucci and Chanel, high-end dining has gone global, and Jay Rayner has watched, amazed, as the great names of the restaurant business have turned themselves from artisans into international brands. Long suspecting that his job was too good to be true, Rayner uses his entrée into this world to probe the larger issues behind the globalization of dinner. Combining memoir with vivid scenes at the table; interviews with the world's most renowned chefs, restaurateurs, and eaters; and a few well-placed rants and raves about life as a paid gourmand, Rayner puts his thoughtful, innovative, and hilarious stamp on food writing. He reports on high-end gastronomy from Vegas to Dubai, Moscow to Tokyo, London to New York, ending in Paris where he attempts to do with Michelin-starred restaurants what Morgan Spurlock did with McDonald's in Super Size Me—eating at those establishments on consecutive days and never refusing a sixteen-course tasting menu when it's offered. The Man Who Ate the World is a fascinating and riotous look at the business and pleasure of fine dining.

The Man Who Ate the World In Search of the Perfect Dinner

Reviews