Jay Rayner's Last Supper

You're about to die. What would your final meal be? This question has long troubled Jay Rayner. As a man more obsessed with his lunch than is strictly necessary, the idea of a showpiece last supper is a tantalizing prospect. But wouldn't knowledge of your imminent demise ruin your appetite? So, Jay decided to cheat death. The plan was simple: he would embark on a journey through his life in food in pursuit of the meal to end all meals. It's a quest that takes him from necking oysters on the Louisiana shoreline to forking away the finest French pastries in Tokyo, and from his earliest memories of snails in garlic butter, through multiple pig-based banquets, to the unforgettable final meal itself. Jay Rayner's Last Supper is both a hugely entertaining account of a life built around mealtimes and a fascinating global exploration of our relationship with what we eat. It is the story of one hungry man, in eight courses.

About the Author :
Jay Rayner is an award-winning writer, journalist and broadcaster with a fine collection of shirts. He has written on everything from crime and politics, through cinema and theatre to the visual arts, but is best known as the restaurant critic for the Observer. For a while he was a sex columnist for Cosmopolitan; he also once got himself completely waxed in the name of journalism. He only mentions this because it hurt. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @jayrayner1. Jay is a former Young Journalist of the Year, Critic of the Year and Restaurant Critic of the Year, though not all in the same year. In 2018 he was named Restaurant Writer of The Year in the Fortnum and Mason Food and Drink Awards. He performs live all over the country, both with his one man shows and as a pianist with his jazz ensemble, The Jay Rayner Quartet. He is a regular on British television, where he is familiar as a judge on MasterChef and, since 2012 has been the chair of BBC Radio 4's food panel show The Kitchen Cabinet. He likes pig.

Review :
PRAISE FOR JAY RAYNER'S PREVIOUS BOOKS Wasted Calories and Ruined Nights "Pure, unfettered joy... The perfect book for anyone who loves their food." --Stylist Greedy Man in a Hungry World "If you want to eat clever in the 21st Century read Jay Rayner's joyful book. The rules of lunch just changed."--Caitlin Moran, author of How To Be a Woman " 'Muddled thinking' and numpty moralising about food are major annoyances of the foodie age. Rayner skewers them deftly, as a man who knows his cutlery can." --Observer "Jay Rayner is always thinking about his next meal so in his new book he examines the economics of food to forecast how we will feed ourselves in the future and what exactly will, or possibly won't be served on our dinner plates. It's part-memoir, part reportage and never preachy. He serves up much food for thought."-- Daily Express "Challenging the organic movement, locavores, and the food miles, he serially slaughters the sacred cows of the liberal foodists. Easy to read - uncomfortable to accept."-- Financial Times "Funny and thought-provoking, Rayner - a self-confessed glutton - questions preconceptions about food issues. Supermarkets versus farmers' markets, the GM debate, food miles, seasonality, food poverty and the madness of the Western diet are all examined with a refreshing honesty, and a desire to see both sides of the argument."--BBC Good Food The Man Who Ate the World "Laugh out loud funny."--Guardian "A witty world tour of gastronomic culture from Las Vegas to Tokyo and everywhere worth visiting in between."--Scotland on Sunday "A genuine book... not a collection of recycled articles, but a piece of vivid food and travel writing based on research."--Observer Review "A witty memoir of food, music and journalism framed around a seemingly simple question: If you knew today was your last day on Earth, what would be your final meal?" -- Los Angeles Times "Side effects of Jay Rayner's Last Supper include sighing, snorting, drooling, and frequent stops to jot down a grocery or play list. It's a beguiling gallop through the food memories of a remarkable personality and a carpe diem reminder." -- Forward Reviews "Witty, wise, and, obviously, delicious." --Guardian "Hilarious, informative, enlightening, instructive ... It's the funniest book I've read all year." -- Chris Evans "A glorious book! Delicious nourishment for every cell in the body." --Jeff Goldblum "Among foodies, a common parlor game calls for participants to design their last meal on earth. What players choose says a lot about them, whether they go for some elaborate dish like tournedos Rossini or choose a simple, well-prepared roasted fish. British food writer Rayner (The Man Who Ate the World, 2008) has thought long and hard about his last meal, even surveying academic papers on death-row inmates' desires, and considered many dishes for his final meal. He realizes that in an actual death-facing situation he might be too emotionally wrought to enjoy much of any food. Nevertheless, he considers oysters from both sides of the Atlantic and recounts experiences with oystermen on Louisiana's Gulf Coast. He explores whole pig consumption with notable nose-to-tail chefs, and remarks on the irony of his porky appetite bumping up against his Jewish roots. Recipes for some of these recollections appear, simple recipes that require near-perfect ingredients to achieve proper effect. For a sweet ending, he searches for a perfect example of Mont Blanc, a cake enrobed in chestnut paste." ― Booklist "A raucous, joyous celebration of life, family and friendship, laced with music, butter, wine, deliberately good and bad, pig-related culinary suspense as taut as a MasterChef final, and a bittersweet, bordering on dark, aftertaste ... At once everything you'd expect and want it to be."--Irish Times "Laughs aplenty ... Peerless."-- Literary Review "Rayner proves a gifted raconteur. Anecdotes trip off the tongue as easily melted lard ... A tour de force of spectacular storytelling."--The Herald "Gluttonous, frank, full of feeling and bound with music ... Undoubtedly, it will have you considering your own tastes, then feverishly scribbling down your own last triumphant meal." --The Irish News