Table Talk: Sweet And Sour, Salt and Bitter

Description

The first collection of food writing by Britain's funniest and most feared critic A.A. Gill knows food, and loves food. A meal is never just a meal. It has a past, a history, connotations. It is a metaphor for life. A.A. Gill delights in decoding what lies behind the food on our plates: famously, his reviews are as much ruminations on society at large as they are about the restaurants themselves. So alongside the concepts, customers and cuisines, ten years of writing about restaurants has yielded insights on everything from yaks to cowboys, picnics to politics. TABLE TALK is an idiosyncratic selection of A.A. Gill's writing about food, taken from his Sunday Times and Tatler columns. Sometimes inspired by the traditions of a whole country, sometimes by a single ingredient, it is a celebration of what great eating can be, an excoriation of those who get it wrong, and an education about our own appetites. Because it spans a decade, the book focuses on A.A. Gill's general dining experiences rather than individual restaurants - food fads, tipping, chefs, ingredients, eating in town and country and abroad, and the best and worst dining experiences. Fizzing with wit, it is a treat for gourmands, gourmets and anyone who relishes good writing.

A.A. Gill was born in Edinburgh. He is the author of two novels, books on two of London's most famous restaurants, and a travel book. He is the TV and restaurant critic for the Sunday Times and is a contributing editor to GQ magazine. He lives in London and spends much of his year travelling.

'What sets Gill apart from the upper middle-class politically incorrect pontificators is that he's interested in people (even if he doesn't always like them) and writes in a clear, economical, puissant style' * THE LIST * 'His reporting, within the space of a few sentences, can be honest, romantic, awestruck, damning, hilarious but, importantly, never sentimental or patronising' * TIME OUT * 'Gill is a delightful, funny polemicist. His prose floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee and, just when you least expect it, lands a deft and lethal blow beneath the belt' * SUNDAY TIMES * 'He entertains like a vicious game show' * GLASGOW HERALD * 'It annoys, arouses feelings and forces one to confront received opinions. Whether one sides with it or not, one can admire the zest of the writing and applaud its splendid lack of political correctness' -- Beryl Bainbridge * MAIL ON SUNDAY *