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Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan

You would think that being a snob about food and restaurants, I would turn up my nose at a book about the love of junk food, Pizza Hut, and hunks of overcooked meat on a bun.

But you would be wrong.

First of all, Gaffigan is funnier ‘n shit no matter what he talks about – go read Dad is Fat, a chronicle of his life with a beautiful wife and five young kids in a two-bedroom Manhattan apartment. The chapter and illustrations about where and when everybody sleeps made me laugh out loud while trying to figure out if he (and his beautiful wife) is/are certifiably crazy. Second of all, reading this book made me feel healthy even though I just drank four rum & cokes on my porch.

Food: A Love Story Jim GaffiganGaffigan calls himself an “eatie” not a “foodie” and I can vouch for that. He has set the bar so low that his children can crawl over it. He admits he’s overweight, but who cares? Here’s a man who is freakin’ happy! And who couldn’t care less what he eats, as long as he’s eating and it isn’t vegetables, especially kale.

I tried reading sentences that made me laugh to my adult son who is always patient with me because without me he wouldn’t be here. (The cards that come with flowers he sends me read, “To the best mother I’ve ever had.”) However, it was clear that Gaffigan’s humor is the hadda-be-there kind because each gag rests on the previous ones and builds up to the next sound bite (sorry) so that plucking out a sentence here and there doesn’t really give anyone a good idea about how truly funny Gaffigan is.

For example, his take on oysters on page 35:

“I don’t understand how Mankind starting eating oysters. … How hungry would you have to be to make that leap? Maybe two guys were have an unproductive day of fishing.
Man 1: Nothing biting over here.
Man 2: Nothing here either.
Man 1: I’m hungry.
Man 2: Me too. Hey, I found a rock with a snot in it. I was thinking of eating it.
Man 1: Um, okay. Go Ahead.
Man 2: (slurps up the oyster)
Man 1: What’s it taste like?”
Man 2: Pneumonia.”

Okay, so maybe that’s not the best example. He says that the gyro is from Greece, but he thinks it is really the national food of drunk people. You know who you are out there.

Gaffigan is talking for the zillions of people who actually like Olive Garden, Cheese Whiz, and Halloween candy. He’s funny and honest and I hope I haven’t ruined this book for you. Get it. Read it. It will make you laugh and probably crave horrid food so much that you get in your car and take the entire family to IHOP. I won’t be there – but if Gaffigan asked me to join him for dinner? I’d eat airport food.

Buy this Book!

Amazon
Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan
Genre: Nonfiction
Author: Jim Gaffigan
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 9780804140430
Sherri Daley

Sherri Daley has been writing freelance for national and regional publications for many years, including MORE magazine, Car and Driver, and the New York Times. She is the author of a book about commodities traders and a ghostwriter for business motivational texts. As a freelancer, she has established herself as someone who will write about anything – from cancer treatments to the lives of Broadway stagehands to that new car smell, blueberry jam, and Joshua Bell’s violin. Her curiosity drives her to read about anything, too, and she’s eager to share what she likes with others. She says life’s too short to read a bad book. When she’s not reading, she’s tending her gardens in Connecticut where she lives with her cat and a cage of zebra finches, although she’d rather be living in Iceland. Visit her blog at sherridaley.com for more!

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