The Restaurant

A History of Eating Out

William Sitwell

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781471179617
• eBook ISBN:
  9781471179631
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

AS READ ON BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK.
The fascinating story of how we have gone out to eat, from the ancient Romans in Pompeii to the luxurious Michelin-starred restaurants of today.

Tracing its earliest incarnations in the city of Pompeii, where Sitwell is stunned by the sophistication of the dining scene, this is a romp through history as we meet the characters and discover the events that shape 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 for nascent fine dining of the French Revolution, 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: to feed people. It is a story of art, politics, revolution, desperate need and decadent pleasure. Sitwell, a familiar face in the UK and a figure known for the controversy he attracts, provides anyone who loves to dine out, or who loves history, or who simply loves a good read with an accessible and humorous history. The Restaurant is jam-packed with extraordinary facts; a book to read eagerly from start to finish or to spend glorious moments dipping in to.
 
It may be William Sitwell’s History of Eating Out, but it’s also the definitive story of one of the cornerstones of our culture.

 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The Romans
• Chapter 2: The Ottoman Empire
• Chapter 3: The Legacy of Ibn Battuta
• Chapter 4: Medieval England
• Chapter 5: The Coffee House Revolution
• Chapter 6: The French Revolution
• Chapter 7: The British Industrial Revolution
• Chapter 8: Carême and the New Paris Guide
• Chapter 9: The Victorian Era
• Chapter 10: Britannia & Co. Opens in Bombay
• Chapter 11: The Invention of the Taco Machine
• Chapter 12: Postwar Britain
• Chapter 13: The Invention of the Sushi Conveyor Belt
• Chapter 14: Le Gavroche Opens in London
• Chapter 15: Chez Panisse Opens in the US
• Chapter 16: Bibendum Opens in London
• Chapter 17: The Death of Bernard Loiseau
• Chapter 18: The Future of Eating Out
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author
• Select Bibliography
• Index
• Picture Credits
• Copyright