The Restaurant: A 2,000-Year History of Dining Out

by William Sitwell

Journeying 2,000 years into the past, food critic and writer William Sitwell artfully traces the earliest origins of the widespread cultural practice of eating out, from its most basic to most sophisticated forms. Whether he's traversing the inns and taverns of Pompeii before its destruction in A.D. 79, witnessing the tumultuous emergence of fine dining during the French Revolution, or recounting the mid-twentieth-century invention of the taco machine in New York City, Sitwell's gives readers a front-row seat to the restaurant experience across cultures and millennia. He identifies the ten most influential restaurant dishes of all time and follows the fashions that shape the way we dine, meeting the restaurateurs of today and yesterday whose establishments shaped society for good or ill. And after offering a wry history of the world through the prism of the eatery, he ponders its exciting future.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Food, Audiobook, Food and Drink, Cooking, Microhistory

272 pages, Hardcover

First published April 9, 2020

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a shelf of 10 star books. Usually they are there because I learned so much, I thought so much and I loved the writing. This is on that shelf for all those reasons and because I enjoyed it so much, 10 stars worth of enjoyment reading it.

There were three defining moments in the book for me. The first was reading the very rude graffiti (jump to **) on a wall of a bar in Pompeii. Nothing changes. Saturday night in Pompeii isn't that much different from Saturday night in Rome or anywhere now, food, sex, drunkeness and defacing walls with 'wisdom'. Except we will be forgotten, graffiti will be painted over, emails are not forever, text messages are even more ephemeral and hopefully there won't be a Vesuvius that stops life in an instant.

The second was a passage, "Alan Compton-Batt one of a new - back then -breed of restaurant publicists, spin doctors in it for the free meals was in the vanguard of the British restaurant revolution. He was one of the peoople accountable for those strange features of modern life where going out to restaurants is a recreational activity and cooking is a hobby rather than daily drudgery."

That kind of heralded the last section of the book. Chefs as artists de gastronomy, scam artists, cynical followers of the emperor's new clothes philosophy. In other words, chefs up their own arses. Some, like Ferran Adria opening for only six months a year so he could design dishes of extraordinary beauty with infinite numbers of ingredients prepared using methods that had more to do with labs than kitchens and charging what he thought was a fairly modest sum that would break the rest of us, were actually interesting in an emperor's new clothes kind of way.

All had to agree that to get one of the coveted reservations (90% of people were turned down) drive up to some back-of-beyond place, pay a fortune for minimal amounts of food served by people who acted like they were acolytes in some high temple, was actually the epitome of a food experience. A collective illusion for those who that wanted to be seen as the most sophisticated people on earth.

Chefs like Hubert Keller charging $5,000 for a burger in his Las Vegas place deserve whatever they can get. Same as Nigerian scammers, if people are idiots enough to fall for it, what can you do but laugh? Just as bad was a restaurant in New York that charged $1,000 for an ice cream sundae. That made me think of Amy Winehouse's song Fuck Me Pumps Footballers, people of no education or taste but far too much money and their rapacious groupies to whom a $1,000 icecream would make them think they were really living the life. Amy didn't sing F me pumps, she sang Fuck me pumps, so why all the coyness on every single lyric site? What's wrong with the word Fuck? It's used every day (in every way) by all sorts of perfectly decent people with only slightly potty mouths?

But chefs could be idiots too, Bernard Loiseau committed suicide because he thought he was going to lose his third Michelin star, he had never cared much about his wife and children, his restaurant dominated his life. In fact, after his needless death, his wife took over, cut the hours, improved working conditions and held on to three Michelin stars.

Two chefs who had elevated themselves to Legends (at least in their own minds were) Giraldo and Lieberman, who preferred to be called 'Captains' and offered not a meal in their futuristic restaurant 28 stories up in Barcelona, but a two-hour 'trip' that cost a fortune and was the very zenith, or perhaps nadir, of pretentiousness. First there were instructions - don't come hungry or thirsty, this will be a distraction! Secondly the hostesses had green faces, furry cat ears and shiny boots. I'm going to quote the rest, it's so funny and so well-written, a précis wouldn't do it justice.

Each sitting was two hours precisely and started in the kitchen with some bite-sized nibbles, including a piece of grilled cheese topped with Vegemite (an Australian yeast-flavoured spread like Marmite) and vanilla ice cream.

Then, once seated in the dining room, its roof a vision of metal, glass, sculpture, twinkling lights and the stars of the night sky beyond, the seven-course ‘Taste of the Five Continents’ (for €160, without drinks) would begin. It started with ‘Primeval Be’, an idea of taste at the beginning of time, exampled by things like ‘grilled whorl’ and ‘crunchy corn-moringa’.

Then there was ‘Mesopotamia: The Mystery of Arab Alchemy’ – its embodiment on the plate included ‘lamb neck in juice, creamy saffron, summac gel’. After the ‘Sinestesia’ course was ‘Amazonia’, featuring ‘salsa chontaduro, açai and tucupí’, and then came the ‘Far East’, with its ‘squid and truffle dashi’. To close, ‘Sweet Bigbang’, a spread of six desserts, with the outrageously ordinary ‘cocoa and pistachio ice cream’.

The food writer and critic, Jessica Prupas said about this multi-sensory experience, "It beats a petrol-station sandwich." She added, "Mocking such a place is not a struggle."

The third defining moment, the end of the book, brings warmth to my heart, "While some fantasise of merging science with ingredients, others will still have a dream about opening a little place with a small kitchen, a modest, seasonally changing menu, a functional wine list, cheerful staff, and the buzz of conversation and laughter. I'll take a table for two in that one, please."

Could we make it for three?
_________

Notes on reading. Marco Pierre White is one of us! When he went to train under the Roux brothers, young and beautiful and filled with a passion for food, he had less than $20 on him and carried only a bag of clothes and a ... box of books! He was the first and still the youngest British chef to get three Michelin stars, and has famously said, "There is no discipline without fear". A hard man, the book says he ran his restaurants 'brutally', but the Roux brothers nickname for him was Little Bunny :-)

His brutal kitchen was nothing on one of his protegees who also started under the Roux brothers, Gordon Ramsay, whom Sitwell says raised kitchen brutality to an art form and parlayed that into tv fame, opening restaurants on the premise that his fame would bring him customers!

Why the Roux brothers, Albert and Michel, chefs in private houses, decided to start a French haute cuisine restaurant in England was that they came with their wives to London on visits over two years and ate at all the best restaurants. Their wives complained the food and service was terrible, which only made the brothers really happy, each disaster, each mediocre plate, each sloppy service,, made them smile more. They knew that when they could get the money together there would be a market for good food and good service.
____________________

**Coming out in Pompeii - "Weep you girls. My penis has given you up. Now it penetrates men's behinds. Goodbye wondrous femininity." Written on the wall of the bar of Innulus and Papilo. On other walls, "I screwed the barmaid", and (waxing poetic), "Lovers are like bees in that they live a honeyed life.". Things don't really change. People go out to a bar, get drunk and want to get laid and then memorialise it in graffiti!

The book is tremendously interesting in the periods of history and characters he picks. It isn't quite as comprehensive as the title and blurb make out. There are only a few countries and historical periods the author really goes into detail about. One of the most interesting characters is Ibn Batutta - a free-loading Muslim Moroccan judge - who travelled the world without ever paying for a meal or lodgings, at least according to his own writings, and he wrote a lot. I think I might have to find a book on him next.

How McDonalds became the pre-eminent fast food hamburger joint was very clever. In 1948, there were a lot of hamburger stands and cafes, so it became a cost-cutting enterprise. First the menu was reduced to just burgers and fries, sodas and milkshakes and nothing that needed utensils to eat it with, served not on plates but in paper bags and cups. That cut out cutlery, crockery and a pot-washer. Then there were heat-lamps enabling the food to be prepared so the customer didn't have to wait. The general price of 30c was reduced to 15c and that meant business exploded. It was all about the money, not the quality of food or ambiance.

Years later when they added 'happy meals' they got a whole load of toddlers who became fractious when having to pass their favourite restaurant without collecting their free toy, a whole new generation of children and their weary parents addicted. Me included. Sometimes twice a day. It was just easier to give in. Going to London, which I did three or four times a year back then, meant McDonald's and Burger King for the toys, Pizza Hut for the crayons and placemats to colour in and Garfunkels because it had fish-shaped nuggets as well as crayons. Eating out with the under 5-set is not about the food.

On the other hand, as Sitwell said, British food was pretty poor anyway. The most successful restaurateur in Britain was Charles Forte. His food was so piss poor, that the Guardian in their obituary of him said his restaurants were notable for their "calculated naffness and mediocrity". Shudder if you remember those dreadful motorway cafes that served the worst food at the highest prices but you had to stop for a pee.

I knew one of the Fortes, closely related but not rich-rich, only ordinary rich. They were also in restaurants, they had a restaurant and Italian ice cream parlour in Barry Island, opposite the amusement park and close to Butlin's. Always good for a downmarket day out if you lived in South Wales (it had a very nice beach, so long it wasn't too close to a sewage outlet). My first husband played in a band with Mark Forte who didn't want to go into catering but wanted to be a rock n roll star. I don't know what he ended up doing, but Fortes is still there on Barry Island.

So I'm enjoying the book. Sitwell has a snarky sense of humour especially about politics and people. I always thought he was kind of dry as a judge/food critic on Masterchef, but his writing isn't at all. Very erudite and very readable.
__________
Restaurants? Sit-down places where people serve you. I would have thought takeaway came before that. I want to know what kind of fast food the ancients went in for. I want to know what the really popular takeaway food was - ours is pizza, burgers, kebabs and curries. What did the Romans send out for on a Saturday night?

[Remostyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

*** 2.5 Stars out of 5, rounded up for Goodreads ***

I enjoyed this one for what it is but to me, it had so many flaws.

First of all, it’s more like a coffee table book rather than a micro-history book where there’s a coherence and the information presented is covering at least some of the subject matter it’s dealing with. Although I can’t say I didn’t learn anything, I wish it was more in depth and detailed. The chapters here felt like magazine articles, would work way better in that context in my opinion.

Second of all, the author digresses a lot. Usually, by the end of the chapter, I didn’t have any idea what they were talking about.

Lastly, this book is trying to cover the subject from Romans to the present day but skips a lot. There are 200-300 years gaps that the author doesn’t want to talk about. Also, its very Eurocentric.

All in all, it is not a bad book. The writing is good more often than not and if you’re interested in the subject you’ll have a good time. Are there better books on the subject and can I just pass on this one? Yes and yes.

[K.J. Charles]

Not really a history of restaurants so much as a selection of vignettes, with almost all of the featured places and chefs either Western (English, French, Italian, US) or serving British food abroad. Limited, is the word.

Interestingly, the author is happy to condemn Japanese restaurants for their environmental impact on the oceans, Indian ones for their "slavish" adherence to British palates (the word is used repeatedly) and Mexican ones in the US for being traitorous in bowing to cultural appropriation, while none of these high standards seem to be applied to restaurants run by white people. Those just get to serve food.

[Måns Sunesson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A history of eating out divided into chapters, in which each tells its own story of restaurants and eating out. The chapter's are ordered somewhat chronological, and goes from Pompeii in 79 A.D to the modern day restaurant scene.

The first few chapters had me captivated. I loved the stories of romans travelling to Pompeii, their city of sin. I loved reading about the ottoman sultan's kitchen. However somewhere after the French revolution and the victorian era (about halfway through the book), I started losing interest. The book goes from being the history of eating out to chapters about specific restaurants and entrepreneurs. I don't like this sudden change in the style of storytelling and the magic of the book is lost for me.

Yet, it's still a well written and well researched book and worth reading if you're passionate about history or food.

[Chaitalee Ghosalkar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three and a half stars

If I have to summarize the contents of the book it'll be like this: History> Food history> Food

Food is bound to have a backstory. So when Sitwell begins in an era (read Pompei before the volcano), it's tough to expect more of food when the focus is on how food came to gain value beyond its role of filling our stomachs and providing nutrition. The initial chapters, thus, are not as enticing for the foodie in you, but before long, you settle into the narrative.

As the chapters unfold, they focus on different cuisines at first, and later on restaurants and their success (or otherwise) stories. Each has an interesting story to tell. Or I thought so, until I came to the chapter that talked about a Parsi restaurant in Mumbai. I'm all for reading about the origin of Parsi restaurants (they have a special place in the hearts of Mumbaikars, after all), but to select a city in India and then a restaurant that belongs to a minority group is unfair to Indian cuisine that is so variegated that you would need an entire book to properly delve into.

And once I saw through the keyhole view that the author reserved for his viewers, the subsequent chapters stood out for their lack of depth. The evolution of the food industry gets captured, alright, but it seems patchy at times, as if the author has had pointers and he's now trying to connect through the dots. It's difficult to capture everything, and that's perfectly understandable, but I wish the disconnect didn't come out as glaring as it does in the book.

[Keith Bain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced historical survey of dining out; the writing is fresh and lively and marvellously personal, too. There's plenty of intimate information that helps make the story of restaurants quite compelling. Personally, though, I'd have loved to read more about non-Eurocentric strands of the story. While, for example, there an acknowledgement of Indian cuisine, it occurs pretty much only in the context of a British-aligned culinary tradition. There's a lot that gets ignored, unfortunately, in favour of chasing the Western perspective. Although, I imagine that a fuller history of the global dining scene might have been just too unwieldy.

[Jan Willem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Should be called "A British History of Eating Out". Reads like an empire wrote this.

[jrendocrine at least reading is good · Rating 2 out of 5]

The planning for this history is distracted - at best - beginning with Pompei (?) and wandering aimlessly through the Ottoman Empire to get to medieval England. From there on it's pretty much Western food that the author is interested in, getting specific with whole chapters on Le Gavroche, Alice Waters and Bibendum. It ends with few comments about Michelin stars, critics and bloggers.

I've watched cooking shows and competitions, which is why I know what little I do, so I thought I'd enjoy this book. But it was not particularly interesting for me, haven't eaten out that much (though I have been to Chez Panisse). Skimmed a good bit of it.

There are probably chefs and foodies who will find the back end interesting. Not sure who will find the dilatory front end interesting.

[Ilana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall entertaining, but educational only in terms of very specific places and figures. Definitely made me want to visit a good French restaurant though :)

[Tc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly interesting and fascinating history of dining out from the time of Pompeii to the modern day. Strongly recommend to anyone who enjoys the art of eating out, and also to those who enjoy some fine dining in the home. From table cloths to food critics, fast food to degustation menus, there’s a lot of history and development behind the humble restaurant as we know it today.

[Anna Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

you know what I did really enjoy this and thought it was super interesting but there was some chapters that I would just completely zone out of and didn’t really feel the need to go back. Really enjoyed the chapter about the invention of the sushi conveyor belt!

[B. Rule · Rating 2 out of 5]

This chatty, very British stagger through the history of dining out is intermittently interesting, but is ultimately hampered by a lack of cohesion. The first couple chapters speed through Imperial Rome and the Ottoman Empire without much effort to trace the connecting lines, and the next few give more of a potted history of European restaurants. These parts are the strongest in the book, looking at the effect of coffeehouses and later industrial and colonial developments on the foodways of England, mostly.

The latter half of the book is significantly less interesting as Sitwell gets bogged down in the minutiae and petty rivalries of the post-war British restaurant scene. There are lots of names dropped of chefs, critics, and restaurants, but it's pretty bloodless stuff if you're sitting on the other side of the pond. The subtitle of this book belies its true focus, which is something more like "the history of the last 75 years of London restaurants, with some longish prefatory place-setting." That's great if you're into it, but I was hoping for a stronger historical through-line and some effort to actually ponder the whys and hows of the evolution of dining out. If you just want anecdotal amuse-bouches about eating out hopscotching through time, you might like it more. Sitwell isn't a bad writer; it's just that I found the telling unsatisfying. 2.5/5

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the pandemic raging about me and restaurants closed, offering curb service, or too dangerous to enter, I can at least read about them if I can't eat at one. What could be a boring read is instead made a tasty smorgasbord by Sitwell, whose engaging writing style and wry observations make this book great fun to read. When next I do enter a restaurant, it will be with a new sense of history!

[Carlos · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a book that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Sitwell is happy to meander from topic to topic, skip centuries at a go and take side-trips to tell you just when the first instance of a table cloth on the historical record was made. This style will suit some readers more than others and will determine whether you find the book quirkily informative or maddeningly unorganized.

[Matilda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I cannot read a book of a man who thinks it is ok to write an article that says: What the push for paternity leave does is deny a man his basic right: the right not to be at home. It is one of the most horrible articles that I have seen in recent history. I the book is just 1% similar to the article I don’t want to read more than the cover of the book.

[Alice Scalco · Rating 3 out of 5]

A history of eating out with a small story in each chapter. Overall nice, but too UK-centric, with most of the chapters about the UK (notoriously not acclaimed for its cuisine) and limited coverage of other countries/ regions with a strong food heritage (Italy, Spain, ...).

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit of a disappointment. It wasn't particularly rigorous and very anecdotal. The significant majority of this was incredibly narrowly focused on specific modern chefs or restaurants.

Not awful, but not what I wanted.

[Miss Hanna Loves Grammar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A smorgasbord of stories that share the history and cultural significance of gastronomic trends. Fascinating and engaging!!!

[Harmony Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's rare that I consider a non-fiction book to be a page turner, but I could not put this one down. Every chapter was fascinating!

[N.A. Diaman]

Too much of it is about the UK food scene.

[🌶 peppersocks 🧦 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reflections and lessons learned/the content of this book made me feel…
“As for what was put on the plate that night and on future nights: ‘Food is the most political thing in all our lives. Eating is an everyday experience, and the decisions we make about what we eat have daily consequences. And those daily consequences can change the world.’”

I have always enjoyed eating in restaurants - to me it heralds a celebration, a planned meeting for a catch up with friends or family, an escape from a mad situation at home or work, or even a moment simply for myself to be enjoying an enclosed but not cut off mostly unknown and uncontrollable treat. Cooking at home for non standard parts of the above can also lovely but it’s not quite the same without a presented menu and a distanced squint eyed choice of drinks to mull over, and a bit of people watching/nattering thrown in along the way.

When I started this book I was slightly disappointed not to have spotted than rather being about restaurants and their current and philosophical existence, it was instead more about the global influence and history that have led us up to where we are. Once I got into that mindset though I was in, and able to enjoy the chapters as individual reflections on the how and why. Social food psychology innit? And the stories that Sitwell can weave from the history is really interesting.

So far this year, as a family of 4 we’ve eaten out in different establishments for a breakfast, an early evening curry, a hotel evening meal, an Ikea tea, and then as a larger family of 13 around a noisy pub table (so noisy that one of our party went to apologise to the next table…) - from each one we have stories, photos and hopefully satiated bellies. In the next few weeks our plans already include another family meal with different relatives and two meals out before going to watch a sporting event. Was this what I missed most in the enforced pandemic lockdowns? 90s Hoskins got it right you know… it’s good to talk… and experience the range of eating! 🍽️

[Jeneva Izorion · Rating 4 out of 5]

บริการทัวร์ร้านอาหารแบบจุกจัด เริ่มจากสมัยโบราณจนมาถึงเ��ือบจะปัจจุบัน [แหงสิ เค้าเขียนเสร็จปี 2019]

เล่มนี้พาไปดู "ร้านอาหาร" หรือการกินอาหารนอกบ้านต่าง ๆ ตั้งแต่โรมันโบราณ ยุคปฏิวัติฝรั่งเศส หลัง WW2 อาจจะมีบางบทแทรก ๆ มา แต่ไม่ได้กระโดดยุคมากขนาดนั้น เช่น ชายผู้เกิดในยุค Marco Polo ที่ออกผจญภัยตระเวนกินอาหารเกือบ 30 ปี, ร้านซูชิสายพานเจ้าแรก ไปจนถึงมุมมองของร้านต่าง ๆ ที่มีต่อ Michelin Star ทั้งแง่บวกและแง่ลบ

เราว่าข้อดีของเล่มนี้ก็คือมีรูปประกอบเยอะ มี footnote มาให้พอสมควร ละก็มีภาพประกอบให้บ้าง เขียนให้เห็นว่าการกินอาหารนอกบ้านหรือการมีร้านต่าง ๆ มันก็เกี่ยวกับการเมือง ฐานะ การผสมผสานวัฒนธรรม กระแสของคนในยุคนั้น ๆ ไม่ใช่เรื่องเรื่อยเปื่อย อีกอย่างที่เป็นข้อดีก็คือมีข้อมูลที่อยู่ในช่วง 19xx เยอะ ใหม่ดี [อันนี้ก็เป็นข้อเสียถ้าอยากได้ข้อมูลแบบช่วงเก่า ๆ] ชอบสุดน่าจะเป็นเรื่อง Michelin Star นั่นแหละ ตอนรู้จักมันผ่าน ๆ ก็คิดว่าเป็นอะไรที่ดี [รู้แหละว่าเป็นแผนให้คนมาใช้ยางเค้า 555] แต่อ่านเสร็จแล้วรู้สึกเหมือนเป็นรางวัลที่มีสิ่งที่ต้องแลกเหมือนกัน

แต่ข้อเสียน่าจะเป็นที่ข้อมูลกอง ๆ แถบฝรั่งเศส อังกฤษ เมกา เยอะไปหน่อย ถ้าคาดหวังว่าเล่มนี้จะพูดถึงอาหารจานต่าง ๆ ทั่วทุกมุมโลก เลมนี้ไม่สามารถขนาดนั้น แต่ก็มีพูดถึงแถบเอเชียอยู่บ้างเช่นอินเดีย ญี่ปุ่น

นอกนั้นก็รู้สึกว่าเล่มนี้เขียนถึงวิวัฒนาการของร้านอาหารได้ดี ร้านในเล่มมันก็ไม่ใช่ร้านข้างทางปกติอะ คนเขียนเลือกมาดี [ระดับกรรมการ Masterchef UK เลยนะเหวย] แต่คนธรรมดาไม่เคยแตะ fine dining อย่างเราอาจจะไม่ชิน

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decided to go for the audiobook rather than an ebook here, which turned out well. Julian Elfer did a great job with the American edition, especially his flawless way with foreign words.

Very rarely was I slightly bored, as happens often enough. In this case, the later post-war chapters got a bit name-droppy for me, but I understood why that happened. Otherwise, Sitwell achieved his objective in showing the progression of dining out: Roman taverns, British coffee-houses, etc. Mass-market tacos in New York, a portrait of Bay Area chef Alice Waters, etc. helped keep things less UK-centric. Moreover, the chapter on Michelin stars seemed quite interesting; most chefs crave those, but for the few who wanted theirs removed, Michelin refused.

I don't know this would appeal to foodies regarding food items specifically, as it's more a history, with later chapters geared towards trends in the restaurant industry.

[Roxanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly entertaining and completely engrossing volume on the history of the restaurant, from the inns and taverns of the Middle Ages to the most recent "innovations" in the restaurant industry such as conveyor belt sushi, this book spun a fascinating tale out of our obsession with food and in particular, food that we didn't cook ourselves. Published last year during the height of the pandemic (but had been written in 2019), I'm sure the author could not have imagined just how a tradition of "eating out" could have been stopped overnight around the world since at least the Roman period (as evidenced by the places to "eat out" in Pompeii, beautifully preserved by the Eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79).

Sitwell has written quite a few books on the history of food, so would love to see him write a book about how restaurants survived and evolve during and after the pandemic.

[Marc J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something’s missing

Overall. good news accurate review. Some cuisines are completely overlooked though. Nothing about the Greek diner, the Jewish restaurant or any deli at all. Nothing Bout the American South.

Especially missing is more detail about the diner, the customer. Why do we eat in certain places and not others? What tastes right and wrong?

And personally I would have liked to hear more about race, gender and class in restaurants. I started my career working in food and beverage and, imo, the structure of the restaurant’s organization closely mirrors the rest of society.

[Nicole Teitler · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Restaurant started out strong but somewhere around the midway point it began to feel like "The Restaurant: A History of Eating Out-- From the British Perspective."If you're British, you will undoubtedly eat this book up. However, for anyone not from the UK the slant towards that perspective is palpable.

British bias aside, William does an excellent job of taking readers through a culinary key points throughout history. He brings up terrific talking points that will leave readers with countless topics for dinner conversations. It's a worthwhile read for anyone who enjoys quality food, just take his account of said history with a grain of salt.

[Teo Matiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great discussion on the Wopet Boost Automatic Feeder and how smart automation simplifies daily routines, especially for people who value consistency and reliability in pet care. It’s interesting how the same principle applies to other areas where dependable equipment makes a real difference, such as organizing events, running cafés, or hosting pet-friendly gatherings where refreshments are needed. In those cases, having access to something like the BFTech ice block maker - https://bftech.pro/catalog/icemaker/ helps ensure smooth service and a better overall experience, reinforcing the idea that well-chosen tools—whether for pets or hospitality—support efficiency and peace of mind.

[Chris Aylott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sitwell leads a merry dance through the history of eating out, from the Roman food stalls and the extraordinary journeys of ibn Battuta to modern-day molecular gastronomy. The world tour of the earlier chapters is more interesting than the focus on British dining culture near the end, but Sitwell draws interesting connections between times and cultures throughout.

[Rohit N · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a fun book that takes no specific order but starts with history of In inns and dining in ancient Italy. It then goes on trace the origin of fine dining as a result of French Revolution! It’s a fascinating story of gastronomy and eating out that talks about it with a strong English bias. It’s a good read for someone interested in learning about the history of eating out.

[Captain Absurd · Rating 4 out of 5]

To me this book consists of two parts. First one deals with the actual topic and the second one seems to be the greatest hits of modern culinary art.

I don't mind the focus being set on the UK towards the end, but would welcome a chapter on COVID.

Basically, if you are a foodie, there is a lot of stuff you need to know in here.