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| The Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner | 
 enlarge | Author: Jay Rayner
Publisher: Headline Review
Category: Book
List Price: £16.99
Buy Used: £7.98
You Save: £9.01 (53%)
New (27) from £8.38
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 6641
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.3
ISBN: 0755316347
EAN: 9780755316342
ASIN: 0755316347
Publication Date: April 3, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Next day dispatch. E
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| Customer Reviews:
 Another helping, please August 30, 2008
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.
 Undigested April 22, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
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.
Ok, he does pick out what for my Euro is the best Gm-19 a Paris, L'Astrance - but what is wrong with L'Arpege? The waiters at Grand Vefour are not snooty, and welcomed my young children with great warmth. The veal at Guy Savoy is not dull, though Savoy's style of cooking is quiet rather than blazingly incandescent.
Doesn't he know of all the fabulous 15GM places in Paris? Most of his readers would find Ze Kitchen Galerie more approachable than Grand Vefour or Ducasse. And Rayner would like the thin, intellectual clientele much more.
If you really want to eat the world, you might start with good bread. Rayner pays no attention to the basics, and hence comes over like a whiny toddler. If you really want to know about the great restos of France, don't buy this book, buy Gault-Millau.
As for Anton Ego here, it's time he ate some of vrai maman's ratatouille - that movie made all the same points with more elegance and wit than Rayner can muster. That said, he's very funny on the hideous empire of Ramsay and its bloated, lazy dominance of world food, and equally telling on Robuchon in Vegas - these just about justify the purchase price.
The underlying story of greed is of course enormously sad. The author should stop doing reviews until he feels real hunger again. When he can love food again, then he can guide the rest of us to the good stuff. As of now, he's so jaded as to be pretty nearly worthless to Joe Public.
Man Who Ate the World April 13, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Delightful read, witty, engaging and wonderfully written.
If you're a keen foodie, this should be on your shelf. Laugh out loud funny and frequently touching, you feel as if you're eating each meal beside him.
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