
Restaurant
Brian Duff(Author)
Bloomsbury Academic USA (Publisher)
Published on 29. May 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
184 pages
979-8-7651-2182-5 (ISBN)
Description
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
In the last few decades, restaurants and food culture have achieved extraordinary cultural presence. Chefs are heroes and thought leaders, well-executed entrees go viral, dining out has become theater, plating has become art and ubiquitous Instagram content. But in recent years restaurants have faced crisis upon crisis.
Restaurant takes a deep dive into the drives, desires, and anxieties we bring to dining out at this time of uncertainty. It explores the meaning we find in good food and warm hospitality. It shows why the restaurant offers unique opportunities to change the quality of our engagement with others and to create shared meaning across the table
In the last few decades, restaurants and food culture have achieved extraordinary cultural presence. Chefs are heroes and thought leaders, well-executed entrees go viral, dining out has become theater, plating has become art and ubiquitous Instagram content. But in recent years restaurants have faced crisis upon crisis.
Restaurant takes a deep dive into the drives, desires, and anxieties we bring to dining out at this time of uncertainty. It explores the meaning we find in good food and warm hospitality. It shows why the restaurant offers unique opportunities to change the quality of our engagement with others and to create shared meaning across the table
Reviews / Votes
A lyrical meditation on nourishment, conversation, and our fantasies that are all the more vital for being inevitably disappointed. * Rebecca L. Spang, author of The Invention of the Restaurant * This wonderful book ventures into the belly of the beast: post-pandemic America's reckoning with its appetites. Duff artfully exposes the question of the restaurant's future to be one of the pressing problems of our time." * Margret Grebowicz, author of Rescue Me: On Dogs and Their Humans * A smart and engaging account of what it means to eat in a restaurant today, what it doesn't mean, and what it can mean if we are careful and thoughtful enough. * Robert Appelbaum, author of Dishing It Out: In Search of the Restaurant Experience *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Illustrations
1 b&w illustration
Dimensions
Height: 161 mm
Width: 85 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
180 gr
ISBN-13
979-8-7651-2182-5 (9798765121825)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions


Persons
Brian Duff is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of New England, USA. He is the author of The The Parent as Citizen: A Democratic Dilemma (2011). His writing has appeared in The New Yorker and he has written restaurant reviews and food articles for The Portland Phoenix and The Boston Phoenix.
Author
University of New England, USA
Series Editor
Content
Prologue
Chapter 1: Cared for and part of the world
Chapter 2: Eating and talking
Chapter 3: The restaurant and the shudder
Chapter 4: Small portions
Chapter 5: Ethics and sanctimony
Chapter 6: Across the table
Epilogue: On My Dinner with Andre
Index
Chapter 1: Cared for and part of the world
Chapter 2: Eating and talking
Chapter 3: The restaurant and the shudder
Chapter 4: Small portions
Chapter 5: Ethics and sanctimony
Chapter 6: Across the table
Epilogue: On My Dinner with Andre
Index