Food: A Love Story

by Jim Gaffigan Narrated by Jim Gaffigan

Overview

Comedian Jim Gaffigan reveals his most intimate food memories, opinions, and fantasies that will keep you laughing all the way to the refrigerator.*

“What are my qualifications to write this book? None really. So why should you read it? Here's why: I'm a little fat. If a thin guy were to write about a love of food and eating I'd highly recommend that you do not read his book.”
*
Bacon. McDonalds. Cinnabon. Hot Pockets. Kale. Stand-up comedian and author Jim Gaffigan has made his career rhapsodizing over the most treasured dishes of the American diet (“choking on bacon is like getting murdered by your lover”) and decrying the worst offenders (“kale is the early morning of foods”). Fans flocked to his New York Times bestselling book Dad is Fat to hear him riff on fatherhood but now, in his second book, he will give them what they really crave-hundreds of pages of his thoughts on all things culinary(ish). Insights such as: why he believes coconut water was invented to get people to stop drinking coconut water, why pretzel bread is #3 on his most important inventions of humankind (behind the wheel and the computer), and the answer to the age-old question “which animal is more delicious: the pig, the cow, or the bacon cheeseburger?”

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Audio

02/02/2015
Gaffigan, a veteran stand-up comedian and the author of the bestseller Dad Is Fat, follows up with a new title exploring his relationship with food and offering insights about the American culinary landscape. Gaffigan takes the tongue-in-cheek approach and seems aware that his everyday choices aren’t always healthy while remaining sufficiently carefree to place tremendous value on what tastes good. In delivering his narrative, Gaffigan engages the listeners with a confessional tone that is irreverent without over-the-top antics. He especially nails the armchair travel aspects of the book, detailing visits to such food-lover destinations as Savannah, New Orleans, and Chicago, with a gift for charming storytelling and an ear for how locals discuss their regional menus with visitors. Gaffigan highlights some of his quirks as a Midwesterner who found his way to New York City—including his dismissive attitude toward seafood and salads and his love affair with pizza and most (but not quite all) types of barbecue. Listeners seeking a blend of humor and the kinds of trivia featured on cable food and travel programs will find themselves satisfied. A Crown Archetype hardcover. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

A highly entertaining and opinionated rumination on food.”—Esquire

“Hilarious.”—Food & Wine

“Gaffigan is delightful company, and he has a gift for comedy that is both clever and friendly. This book is a great use of his talents, and thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish—as long as it doesn’t make you too hungry along the way.”—Splitsider

NOVEMBER 2014 - AudioFile

Comedian, author (DAD IS FAT), and narrator Jim Gaffigan gives an applause-worthy performance of his book, which explores food and his love affair with it. His observations about food are entertaining; he says crustaceans are the bugs of the sea, for example. And his delivery is outstanding. With a slight Southern accent and strong timing, he brings out the ironic hilarity associated with national and international menus and food practices. Gaffigan’s informal narration style fits his affable-sounding personality. He’ll have the listener hooked on his humor before the appetizers arrive, and his serious contemplations will also provide the listener with some food for thought. M.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2015 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2014-11-19
Veteran comedian Gaffigan (Dad Is Fat, 2013) once again proves that the surest way to the American funny bone is through a mouthful of cheeseburger and fries, followed by a milkshake chaser.Most love stories are complex affairs, and the author's torrid relationship with pizza and bacon and everything else that is bad for you—but also so darn tasty—is no exception. In his latest book, Gaffigan waxes downright poetic about beef, barbecue, Chinese takeout and a smorgasbord of other gastronomic delights that no overweight man his age and girth can resist. The author's passion for deliciously trashy food manifests itself in a mouthwatering map of the United States that gleefully replaces red and blue states with much more representational porterhouse steaks and ribs. Gaffigan admits to never being hungry because he simply never stops eating—not that he's proud of this potentially tenuous state of affairs, because as the relentlessly self-deprecating wit implies, he is not. It's just that the gifted author is one love-struck schlub who is completely honest about the power his beloved addiction has over his life. For as many dishes as he professes to adore, there appears to be an equal number of food items that he despises. His culinary no-fly list runs the gamut from seafood to American cheese. "What's the difference between anchovies and a sweaty eyebrow?" Gaffigan wonders. "Whenever I see an anchovy I think, Someone has attacked Tom Selleck. Why would you want to put that on a pizza?" The author seasons each carton of comedy goodness with all the right seasonings: a dash of domesticity here and a pinch of zesty dialogue there. In freely exploring his ardor for all things fried, baked and sugary, Gaffigan somehow manages to work "clean" without ever becoming sickeningly saccharine. Laughs served up just right on every page.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171905286
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	10/21/2014
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

CURRICULUM VITAE
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Food: A Love Story"
by .
Copyright © 2015 Jim Gaffigan.
Excerpted by permission of Crown/Archetype.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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