Books › Food
Food
352 pages
A hilarious, unapologetic love letter to the worst foods in the American diet, delivered with the timing of a master stand-up.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like sitting in a diner at midnight with your funniest friend, splitting a plate of cheese fries and complaining about the existence of kale. The pace is brisk and bouncy, structured as a series of bite-sized comedic essays that read exactly like a polished stand-up routine. The tone is relentlessly self-deprecating and jovial, creating a cozy, convivial mood that invites you to drop your pretenses and embrace your inner glutton. The prose is conversational and punchy, relying on hyperbolic observations and perfectly timed punchlines rather than flowery descriptions. It is a delightfully low-stakes, laugh-out-loud experience perfect for anyone who appreciates observational comedy and believes bacon should be its own food group.
- Mood
- lighthearted
- cozy
- convivial
- hungry
- Tone
- self-deprecating
- jovial
- absurd
- relatable
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- the joy of gluttony · culinary nostalgia · American junk food culture · absurdity of diet trends · comfort in the mundane
- The writing
- Conversational, punchy, and structured like a stand-up routine with frequent punchlines and hyperbolic observations.
- The arc
- A steady plateau of amusement and lighthearted camaraderie that leaves the reader feeling cheerful and craving a snack.
- Who it's for
- Readers looking for a low-stakes, laugh-out-loud escape and unapologetic junk food enthusiasts who appreciate observational comedy.
Content notes
- frequent discussions of food and eating
- mild self-deprecating body humor
About the book
""What are my qualifications to write this book? None really. So why should you read it? Here's why: I'm a little fat. If a thin guy were to write about a love of food and eating I'd highly recommend that you do not read his book." Bacon. McDonalds. Cinnabon. Hot Pockets. Kale. Stand-up comedian and author Jim Gaffigan has made his career rhapsodizing over the most treasured dishes of the American diet ("choking on bacon is like getting murdered by your lover") and decrying the worst offenders ("kale is the early morning of foods"). Fans flocked to his book Dad is Fat to hear him riff on fatherhood but now, in his second book, he will give them what they really crave--hundreds of pages of his thoughts on all things culinary(ish). Insights such as: why he believes coconut water was invented to get people to stop drinking coconut water, why pretzel bread is #3 on his most important inventions of humankind (behind the wheel and the computer), and the answer to the age-old question "which animal is more delicious: the pig, the cow, or the bacon cheeseburger?""--
Description from Open Library.
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