Table Talk

I only learned of the late, great AA Gill when I read one of the many obituaries that lavished praise on this restaurant critic and essayist for the London Times and Tattler. I immediately bought Table Talk so that I could experience Gill's perceptions and wit for myself. I read a lot of food criticism and history, but this collection of Gill's food columns is the best I have come across.I found portions of Gill's reviews to be laugh-out-loud funny. Here's only one of many examples. Gill is writing about truffles and what started out to be a fine meal at an unnamed restaurant. All was well until the truffle ice cream. Gill's companion,The Blond, tasted the ice cream and did the predictable "Yeach, yeuch, that's horrible, horrible." But then some time later, the Blond turns to Gill and described the experience this way: "You know what it was like? It was like slipping into bed in the dark and finding a familiar warm body there, then switching on the light and discovering it's your grandfather, naked and aroused. You know what I mean?" Gill responds, "Not precisely specifically, but generally."Gill combines this humour and sharp wit with more profound statements about cuisine in general, including a masterful take-down of Britain's saintly Elizabeth David. As someone who admits to worshipping David herself, I went from anger at Gill's critique of David to a grudging admiration for how he gets to a truth: David's championing of Italian and French cuisine at the expense of British cuisine has had lingering, terrible consequences for a nation that suffers from a culinary identity crisis. As Gill writes, "The real problem is not just that we [Brits] cook Italian food day in, day out, it is that we cook it so jolly badly. . . . Housewives try to cook dishes that may be cheap to put together in Milan or Rheims, but cost a lot in Bolton or Penzance. Take those two staples of Italian cooking, the tomato and sweet basil. The plum tomatoes that grow in the heat of Italy taste totally different from the forced-under-polythene ones that we get here. . . . Consequently, robust peasant food tastes insipid and second-rate when it is prepared by foreigners." And a whopping dose of the blame, Gill contends, rests with Elizabeth David.Gill writes a lot of unorthodox, irreverent things in Table Talk, provoking readers to take an active part in engaging with him, critiquing him, agreeing with him, and most of all laughing with him as he punctures our fine gourmand sensibilities with abandon. This is a book that I will buy extra copies of just to give out to my friends and colleagues in the culinary industry. In this way, I will do my small part to keep Gill alive forever, even if he is no longer with us in the flesh.

What a great series of essays!

Delicious writing, wonderful content, the kind of book that you take everywhere and then hope for a reason to be delayed so you can enjoy it. A must have for foodies, readers and writers.

For those of you who don't know him, A.A. Gill is a TV and restaurant critic for the UK newspaper The Times. He's also a well-known travel writer, contributing to The Times and a number of high-end magazines. Table Talk is a collection of his writings on food: restaurant reviews, articles on various destinations in the UK and overseas, reminiscences, consideration of trends. Each section is divided from the next by snippets of descriptions of various dishes he's sampled.Gill's style is distinctive - personal and direct, often conversational. He piles up the adjectives and indulges in similes that may seem superficially ridiculous but are helpfully evocative; the latter is due, he says, to the difficulty of writing sensibly about food in the English language.Gill is one of my favourite writers. I've never come across another author who can make me laugh so hard, but there's so much more to his writing than humour. Food is illuminated with historical knowledge; for example, I learned how World War II ruined British cuisine, how catering in modern armies was developed, and how the "Russian style" service we enjoy in restaurants today came about. Food is also the starting point for digressions on all sorts of topics, such as the value of hate, the awfulness of cowboys, the Italian sense of humour, how to leave a restaurant without paying the bill, and why Eminem is the second coming of Gilbert and Sullivan.Is there name-dropping? Yes. Snobbery? Up to a point. He's an expert, after all. Is he demanding? Absolutely. As he points out time and again, if you don't expect better from restaurants and let them know it, they won't lift their game and give it to you. Yet for Gill, eating is ultimately all about hospitality and enjoyment.I suspect reactions to this book will be quite polarised. You'll find Gill funny, you'll find yourself in sympathy with his views, you'll appreciate his style - or you won't. It's up to you. I'm a despised vegetarian and I love his books!

Bought this to replace a very dog eared version and thoroughly enjoyed rereading it. Gill has such a way with words, creating elegant phrases, word portraits and descriptions that make you laugh out loud. One of my go to authors when I am looking for wines to brighten up a journey of a dull day. This has been particularly true in the current pandemic and lockdown at home.

If I were to meet the Author in person, we probably wouldn't get along. He plainly isn't a nice man.But the way he rips people and restaurants to shreds, makes for one of the funniest reads I've enjoyed in a long time. In the way Frankie Boyle makes people laugh AND is absolutely outrageous, Gill's writing pulls off the same trick. Well worth a read!

A very eloquent, funny and informative read. Such a loss.

In my eyes A A Gill can do no wrong. This book is about food in its widest sense. Entertaining and informative.

He makes me laugh, even if he is at times rather rude