In The Restaurant: From Michelin stars to fast food; what eating out tells us about who we are - Softcover

"Academic but compulsively readable... Christoph Ribbat's fascinating cultural history of restaurants transcends gastronomy to trace how this 250-year institution developed and its place in society." -- Nancy Powell, Shelf Awareness "A dazzlingly entertaining, eye-opening volume that shows the restaurant is where performance, fashion, commerce, ritual, class, work and desire all come together... an impressively informative and unreservedly fascinating study." -- Midwest Book Review "A fascinating buffet of fare and facts. . . Deliciously diverse, In the Restaurant is a uniquely intellectual and gastronomic experience." -- Foreword Reviews 'A delightful celebration of the restaurant.' -- Guardian 'A veritable smorgasbord of mouthwatering gastronomic tales.' - The National 'A playful story, most entertaining, and wonderfully documented.' - Ferran Adri of El Bulli 'An entertaining smorgasbord of tasty stories that build into a deeper picture of the places where we eat, from fast food joints and caf s to the temples of gastronomy.' - Hattie Ellis 'Fascinating, multi-layered, audacious and unique . . . mixes fact and fancy so compellingly that I read it in a single sitting.' - Russell Norman, author of Polpo "Glorious stuff along the way ... we are unquestionably gripped by the stories... Brilliant. Just bloody brilliant." -- Giles Coren, The Times "All edible life is here - and tasty gossip, as the lid is lifted on the bubbling cauldron that is culinary society." - Tatler "Knowing and nourishing in equal measure, the short, sharp chapters arrive like delectable hors d'oeuvres." -- Monocle "A brilliant, provocative, wonderful, satisfying book. A proper gallimaufry of anecdotes that has been a real pleasure to lose myself in." -- Desperate Reader (blog)

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.