Food: A Love Story

Book 61 of my 2014 Reading Challenge

I received a copy of this book via Blogging for Books in exchange for a honest review. 

Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan

Summary (via the book jacket)

Have you ever finished a meal that tasted horrible but not noticed until the last bite? Eaten in your car so you wouldn't have to share with your children? Gotten hungry while watching a dog food commercial? Does the presence of green vegetables make you angry?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are pretty pathetic, but you are not alone. Feast along with America's favorite food comedian, best-selling author, and male supermodel Jim Gaffigan as he digs into his specialty: stuffing his face. Food: A Love Story is an in-depth, thoroughly uninformed look at everything from health food to things that people actually enjoy eating.
In his much-anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestseller Dad Is Fat, Jim Gaffigan reveals his most intimate food memories, opinions, and fantasies that will keep you laughing all the way to the refrigerator. 

My Opinion

As I skimmed the chapter titles prior to reading the book and saw a chapter on buffets and a chapter just for gravy, I knew we were going to get along just fine.  

I'm glad I read the majority of the book at home for two reasons.  First, I laughed out loud many times (including the one time I read in public; laughter at the dentist's office probably doesn't happen often but I couldn't help it - it was a poop joke!).  Second, I was craving all the foods but luckily for my waistline and my budget, my laziness is stronger than my hunger so I stayed home and continued reading instead.

It was a very good sign that as I read, I kept thinking of all the people I would recommend it to.  The book had a very strong start and even though I felt it lost a little steam as it went, it was still a good read overall.  

  A Few Quotes from the Book

"What I have is a general and very personal knowledge of food. I know which food I enjoy. I know which food I hate. I know how food makes me feel. I realize that because of my food obsession, the fact that I am writing a book about food could mistakenly give some people the impression that I think of myself as a "foodie", but I don't. I think of myself as an "eatie"." 

"I shudder to think how many landfills are piled with plastic bags of brown slimy lettuce leaves that have withered away, neglected in someone's lower refrigerator drawer. But we still try and try to like salad." 

"For some reason they have nutritional facts printed on the side of the bottle of water. I'm no chemist, but I've got a rough idea of what's in water. I kind of expect to turn the bottle and see a recipe printed on there. 'Oh, that's how you make ice cubes. Apparently you just freeze this stuff. (reading) Oh, but you need a tray. That's how they get you. They probably want you to buy their tray. That's how they get you.' " 

"On the continuum scale of meat, on one end is steak and on the other end is bologna. All other types of meat fall somewhere between these two extremes. Steak and bologna are the alpha and omega of meats. Steak is premium, and bologna is, well, bologna. If steak is the tuxedo of meat, then bologna is the stained Members Only jacket. Maybe that analogy did not make sense, but neither does bologna." 

"Hot dogs are like strippers, really. Nobody wants to know the backstory." 

"When I was eating my second portion of poutine, I actually heard my heart say, 'Oh no. What are you doing? Are you mad at me?' I could feel my arteries tightening. But my brain said, 'It's all right. It's all right. There's going to be some sweating. Well, a lot of sweating, but you'll get through it. Bowels, you can take the weekend off.' " 

"We view fast-food places like they are someone we used to date. You drive by and look at them like, 'I can't believe I went there.' Then a couple of nights later you find yourself at their doorstep: 'It's late. I'm drunk. How about one for old times' sake?' " 

"Each culture has its own ketchup. Salsa is the Mexican ketchup, marinara sauce is the Italian ketchup, and I guess vinegar is the British ketchup. How bad is your food when adding vinegar is an improvement? What can I say? The British just have a different attitude toward food."