Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic, an unexpectedly funny and riveting book
Review: I would never have bought this book if a friend hadn't insisted that I sit down and read at least the first chapter. I like to eat food, not read about it. But Jeffrey Steingarten is a riveting, funny, argumentative, bloshy, emphatic writer. I laughed my way through this. I bought a copy for myself, then went back for two more to give as gifts. A surprising treat. In the beginning Steingarten writes about how he ate his way all the foods he had convinced himself he was repulsed by. And found some of them surprisingly good (others revolting). I would have argued that a book about food by the food critic for Vogue could only be a stuffy, pompous self-satisfied piece of writing. I was wrong, wrong, wrong. If Steingarten was an item of food I'd convinced myself I couldn't possibly like, I must now go back on myself and say, love it, DELICIOUS.
Rating:
Summary: Great Fun - Gastronomic Gusto
Review: This book is hysterically funny and informative at the same time. The chapter on Salad the Silent Killer cracked me up. I will read this one again. Whole sections had to be read aloud, just because they were so funny. When Jeffrey Steingarten was made food critic of Vogue in 1989, he began by systematically learning to like all the food he had previously avoided. From clams to Greek food to Indian desserts with the consistency of face cream, Steingarten undertook an extraordinary program of self-inflicted behavior modification to prepare himself for his new career. He describes the experience in this collection's first piece, before setting out on a series of culinary adventures that take him around the world. It's clear that Vogue gave Steingarten carte blanche to write on whatever subjects tickled his taste buds, and the result is a frequently hilarious collection of essays that emphasize good eating over an obsession with health. "Salad, the Silent Killer" is a catalog of the toxins lurking in every bowl of raw vegetables, while "Fries" follows a heroic attempt to create the perfect French fry--cooked in horse fat. Whether baking sourdough bread in his Manhattan loft or spraying miso soup across a Kyoto restaurant, Steingarten is an ideal guide to the wilder reaches of gastronomy, a cross between M.F.K. Fisher and H.L. Mencken.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect for those in-between times
Review: This is the perfect book to have when at a traffic jam, doctor's office or any of the hundreds of daily jams we find ourselves caught. I found myself laughing out loud several times at many of these admittedly wacky but witty tales. The subject matter was in itself a winner - he touches on everything from non-fat fat to fruit ripening to when to buy certain products. And this is the best feature of the book - it is not only entertaining but also informative...the best of both worlds. He does not have the poignancy of a M.F.K. Fisher or the razor claws of the reviewer Simon Britchky or the down-to-earth charm of a Nika Hazelton but in his own way, he is just as good.
Rating: 
Summary: An entertaining and informative collection
Review: Maybe he didn't really eat "everything;" but Steingarten seems to have come close. Once one gets past Steingarten's gourmand snobbery, this is a highly enjoyable and informative book of chapters, which read more like essays, on different food-related topics. Steingarten mightily challenges fad diets and nutritional myths (like all fat, salt, or alcohol is bad for one's health) with well-researched statistics and information presented in a very humorous fashion. He becomes personally involved with each subject almost to a fault. There are even a few recipes thrown in for good measure. Buy this book and feel good again about eating!
Rating:
Summary: Witty, wry, and delectable
Review: Steingarten combines passion, curiosity, erudition, and his lovely wry writing to make a great food book. His scholarly digging and his willingness to use the scientific method to test things is remarkable (his chapter on water, for example). He also finds some real food curiosities such as the Thompson Turkey. Anyone who relishes seeing an active, far ranging mind at work will love this book. Great gift book. Easy to read a chapter at a time.
Rating:
Summary: I'd actually send this man fan mail...
Review: and I would NEVER send anyone fan mail. I'm afraid that my review of this book will be a complete cliche - ie. I couldn't put it down, I didn't want it to end, I laughed, I cried, I gained 10 pounds etc. I found Steingarten to be insightful, hilarious, sarcastic and delightfully neurotic. I now realize the joy I missed over the years by not being an avid Vogue reader. I can't believe it took this long for my first exposure to such exquisite food writing. I CAN'T BELIEVE NO ONE TOLD ME TO READ THIS BOOK UNTIL NOW! As a (relatively) young person, who has recently discovered the joys of "that which is edible" - I found this book to be as informative as it was entertaining. Many of the topics that Steingarten explores were more relevant to my own culinary exploits and interests than I could have hoped. Despite the fact that I do not have the same resources and colleagues that would allow one to travel as far and wide as I'd like(and as he does), Steingarten manages to truly take the reader with him as he travels, while simultaneously making it possible for the young (or older) homebound gastronome to relate. I will forevermore approach the subject of food as influenced by Jeffrey Steingarten. I will cook every recipe in his book. I will travel to eat. And most of all, I will overcome my food aversions (especially if stranded on a desert island and everything I would normally eat has run out). Although I LOVED this book - I had trouble reading it without a break - since these are drawn from his monthly writing, it IS a big dose of food writing, but I took a night off and finished it with no problem. Hope y'all like it!
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious and impossible to put down
Review: I read this book in no time at all. I have found myself picking it up again and again to read the odd chapter. His recipes are superb and the writing is fantastic. His comments about everything from fruitcake to spit roasting are so funny I found myself falling out of my chair laughing. I would recommend this book to anyone regardless of your interest in food. He pulls you into the world of gastronomy like whirlwind until you find yourself intensely interested in everything gastronomic.
Rating:
Summary: It doesn't get any better
Review: Jeffrey Steingarten is simply the funniest nonfiction writer at work today. His wit, thanks to his self-deprecation, is never cruel. And his service to the world, should just one reader cast off the burdens of food phobias or psychosomatic food allergies, is enormous. Buy a bar of good dark chocolate or cut yourself some smelly raw milk cheese, sit back, and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, informative and inspiring (to make you cook, that is)
Review: Despite the Oliver Sacks-like title, this is a culinary florilegium by the food critic of Vogue and Slate. I quote the New York Time Book Review, bowing to its laconic accuracy: "Part cookbook, part travelogue, part medical and scientific treatise." Steingarten is tireless in poring over the scientific research on nutrition and cooking, and clearly loves his subject as much as he loves to try the same recipe a dozen times, hunting for perfection. He praises the greatest cooking and the finest simple pleasures (McDonald's, barbecue), investigates everything from ketchup to salt to Kobe beef, and argues for common-sense nutrition. He kicks against the Food Police: salt doesn't raise blood pressure, sugar isn't that bad for you, alcohol is good for you once a day, etc. (His essay "Salad, the Silent Killer," even if it doesn't burst the bubbles of the Food Police, serves as wicked parody of obsessive toxin-phobia and fault-finding.) To top it all off, Steingarten writes very well and is at times wickedly funny. A great food read.
Rating:
Summary: Almost Perfection....
Review: Jeffrey Steingarten presents a wonderful collection of his writings over the years relating to his all-consuming passion for fine food. He covers everything from the most exquisite Japanese cuisine to his quest for the perfect American pie crust. The only thing that keeps me from giving this book a fifth star is the fact that Jeffrey seems to be a little confused about his barbecue. I always have to look with suspicion at anyone who thinks that Memphis is the world capitol of barbecue and that the Memphis in May contest is the ultimate barbecue competition. His writing regarding the subject was certainly entertaining, but perhaps could have been better had he utilized a side-by-side comparison with Kansas City barbecue. (Kansas City would have won, hands down)
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