The Restaurant: A History of Eating Out - William Sitwell

From the pen of renowned food critic William Sitwell comes a dazzling history of eating out. Tracing its earliest incarnations back to the city of Pompeii, where Sitwell is stunned by the sophistication of the dining scene, this is a romp through history in which we meet the characters and discover the events that have shaped the way we eat today. Sitwell, restaurant critic for the Daily Telegraph and famous for his acerbic criticisms on the hit BBC show MasterChef, tackles this enormous subject with his typical wit and precision. 

He spies influences from an ancient traveller of the Muslim world, revels in the unintended consequences of the French Revolution for nascent fine dining, reveals in full hideous glory the post-Second World War dining scene in the UK, and fathoms the birth of sensitive gastronomy in the US counterculture of the 1960s.

This is a story of the ingenuity of the human race, as individuals endeavour to do that most fundamental of things: feed people. It is a story of art, politics, revolution, desperate need and decadent pleasure. 

Reviews:

'William Sitwell has the palate of a great chef, the honesty of a high court judge and he holds the pen of P.G. Wodehouse' - Marco Pierre White

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd

ISBN: 9781471179617

Pages: 272

Weight: 900g

Dimensions: 240 x 168 x 25 mm