Feeding Frenzy

• Paperback - 05 May, 1998 - Ballantine Books
• Usually ships in 24 hours
• By: Stuart Stevens
• ISBN: 0345425545

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About this book

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.

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Reviews by readers

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"!

Couldn't put it down!

As a mother with two young children, I haven't finished many books in the past few years--but this book I finished within a few days! The only problem was the drool I had to wipe off the pages as I salivated over the meals the author describes.... All in all a fun book, with a perfect balance of "technical" descriptions of the meals and restaurants, along with enough personal anecdotes to keep the story going.

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.

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