Jay Rayner Books

So, he had a simple plan: he would embark on a journey through his life in food in pursuit of the meal to end all meals.

You want him to suffer abysmal meals - preferably at eye-watering prices - so that you can gorge on the details and luxuriate in vicarious displeasure. Well, feast your eyes. He hopes you enjoy reading his accounts of these twenty miserable meals a damn sight more than he didn't enjoy experiencing them.

In 1483 Princess Joanna dei Strossetti dies in the agony of childbirth. Five hundred years later her tomb is restored and two men fight for the love of a woman who has been dead half a millenium.

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.

Als een Engelse restaurantcriticus na een meedogenloze bespreking gedwongen is zijn excuus aan te bieden, gaat hem dit zo goed af dat hij er zijn beroep van maakt.