In the Restaurant. Society in Four Courses - Tapa dura

I imagined that this would be a book that opened new avenues into the study of "restauracion". What I read surpassed that by far. Where I expected a wrought and dense text, I found a playful story, most entertaining, and wonderfully documented, about the history and the anecdotes around restaurants -- Ferran Adria Fascinating, multi-layered, audacious and unique. This book somehow manages to join the dots and connect all restaurants, past and present, in a tale that mixes fact and fancy so compellingly that I read it in a single sitting Russell Norman, author of 'Polpo'

'A playful story, most entertaining, and wonderfully documented' Ferran Adria 'An entertaining smorgasbord of tasty stories that build into a deeper picture of the places where we eat, from fast food joints and cafes to the temples of gastronomy.' Hattie Ellis What does eating out tell us about who we are? The restaurant is where we go to celebrate, to experience pleasure, to show off - or, sometimes, just because we're hungry. But these temples of gastronomy hide countless stories. This is the tale of the restaurant in all its guises, from the first formal establishments in eighteenth-century Paris serving 'restorative' bouillon, to today's new Nordic cuisine, via grand Viennese cafes and humble fast food joints. Here are tales of cooks who spend hours arranging rose petals for Michelin stars, of the university that teaches the consistency of the perfect shake, of the lunch counter that sparked a protest movement, of the writers - from Proust to George Orwell - who have been inspired or outraged by the restaurant's secrets. As this dazzlingly entertaining, eye-opening book shows, the restaurant is where performance, fashion, commerce, ritual, class, work and desire all come together. Through its windows, we can glimpse the world.