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| View Larger Image | Feeding Frenzy: Across Europe in Search of the Perfect Meal
by Stuart Stevens
| | List Price: | $19.00 |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 1206666 | | Studio: | Ballantine Books | | | Binding: | Paperback | | Number Of Pages: | 272 | | Publication Date: | May 05, 1998 | | Publisher: | Ballantine Books |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Friends and fellow New Yorkers Stuart Stevens and Rachel "Rat" Kelly share two passions: exercise and eating. Having exhausted nearly every posh Manhattan restaurant, former model Rat suggests they take their buffed bodies to new gastronomic heights via a tour of Europe's Michelin three-star restaurants. Rat's boyfriend will underwrite the trip--but only if they do the twenty-nine restaurants on their list in twenty-nine days.
What follows is nothing less than gustatory madness, a wacky dash in a cherry-red 1965 Mustang across England, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and France through Europe's greatest food temples. Filled with hilarious misadventures, priceless exchanges with star chefs, wild excess, breathtaking scenery, and sensual depictions of once-in-a-lifetime meals, Feeding Frenzy will delight travelers and epicures alike. |
Amazon.com
Imagine having a month-long trip to Europe bankrolled for you, the only stipulation being that you must sample meals in every three-star Michelin restaurant on the continent. For Stuart Stevens and his friend Rachel "Rat" Kelly, this could either be a dream come true or cause to be more careful what they wish for. Stuart and Rat love to eat; in fact, their relationship is almost entirely based on their enthusiasm for food and exercise. When Rat's boyfriend, a lawyer, agrees to underwrite the trip as a kind of challenge, the two galloping gourmands find themselves doing 29 restaurants in 29 days to fulfill their end of the bargain. Feeding Frenzy is an account of their travels--and their meals. Driving across Europe in a 1965 Ford Mustang ordered sight unseen especially for their excursion, Stuart and Rat--accompanied by an adopted golden retriever named Henry and Rat's boyfriend, Carl--masticate their way from England to Italy via three-star restaurants in France, Germany, Belgium, and Monaco. By the end of Feeding Frenzy you won't know whether to order coq au vin or pop an Alka-Seltzer; have both, just to be on the safe side. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 14 reviews)
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The Ugly American Eats Out 
I haven't been as repelled by a piece of light entertainment in years. If the writing had been any shallower, the type would have sunk into the page. Allegedly the memoirs of a wacky, food-filled trek across Europe, this roast turkey doesn't even ring true as fiction. It comes across more as a middle-aged male's mid-life-crisis fantasy. Was this serialized in Esquire by any chance? To pull off this kind of narcissistic, "look at me, aren't I wonderful?" sort of writing--ala Peter Mayle--requires a certain style, which this book has in negative numbers. In fact, if you add up the primary elements--pseudo-alpha male lead; attractive, eccentric female lead; overbearing dog; and a beloved car with a mind of its own--what you really have is the making of a 60's Disney Love Bug movie, "Herbie Goes to Europe." Except with less depth and humor.
October 07, 2003 | |
not for public reading 
Laugh out loud funny! You don't have to be a gourmet to enjoy reading about this parade through so-called "fancy restaurants"!
May 31, 2003 | |
Reading Frenzy 
Instead of "Feeding Frenzy," I think "Reading Frenzy" would be a more appropriate title. I couldn't finish this book even though I avidly read every foodie-type book I can get my hands on. I think Mr. Stevens is capable of writing a very good book, but this one seems to have been written while he was on some sort of "high" because it's so disjointed. I read for pleasure, not to feel frenzied.
November 14, 2000 | |
Delicious, humorous, nice yarn
Unlike many other reviewers I liked this book immensely. I doubt that many of us have eaten at many (or any) of these gourmet palaces described in the book, but we can still dream. I enjoyed the whole setup - the decision to go, the pair that traveled, the 65 Mustang, the sheer gall of the adventure...but most of all, the food.The descriptions of both the land, the people, the buildings and all the internal machinations of running and thriving in the ruthless business were enlightening and enjoyable. Especially good were the many conversations with the various chef-owners and their differing philosophies. Some of the places are no longer in business - so what? At least they once were and they served food on the order not found in America. Did I consider the author opinionated? Sure, that's why I bought the book. I wanted to hear from someone NOT paid to hype these places. If I go to Europe I plan to take this book and try out some of these places. Buy the book.
June 19, 2000 | |
Feeding Frenzy.. 
The mark of many great travel books is the identification of a quest and then the author's weaving of a great story to hang on that base structure. Here Stevens has dreamed up the quest and sets himself up for another Malaria Dreams-style home run, but somehow that isn't what he ended up with. I saw vestiges of the humor from his earlier books and situation set-ups, so I know he is still capable of it, but overall this one failed to deliver the success of his other adventures. He never says exactly why he hates Germans so much. He didn't develop the dog and the Mustang troubles into a great comic device. And he definitely got sick of writing at the end because the last chapters fall off without any memorable lines. After Malaria Dreams this was a bit disappointing, but at least it did occupy a cross-country plane ride.
May 02, 2000 | |
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