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Restaurant Babylon
Restaurant Babylon
Sep 19, 2024 10:39 PM

Author:Imogen Edwards-Jones

Restaurant Babylon

What makes a restaurant hot? Whose name do you need to drop to get a table? Why is one place booked solid for the next nine months while somewhere equally delicious is as empty and inhospitable as the Gobi desert?

Welcome to the restaurant business, where the hours are punishing, the conditions are brutal and the Chef's Special has been languishing at the back of the fridge for the past three days.

This is an industry plagued with obsessives. Why else do some chefs drive themselves crazy in pursuit of elusive Michelin stars, when in reality all they're doing is 'making someone else's tea'?

Nothing is left to chance: the lighting, the temperature or even the cut of the salmon fillet. There's even a spot of psychology behind the menu. What do they want you to order? What makes them the most money? And why should you really hold back on those side dishes?

In Restaurant Babylon, Imogen Edwards-Jones and her anonymous industry insider lift the lid on all the tricks of the food trade and what really makes this £90 billion a year industry tick. So please do sit down, pour yourself some heavily marked-up wine and make yourself comfortable (although we'll need that table back by 8.30 sharp).

Reviews

A glorious behind-the-scenes account of London's debauched hospitality business.

—— Observer

Shocking and at times jaw-dropping, this is a must-read for any Babylon fans or those who like eating out. ****

—— Heat

Edwards-Jones gets away with stories far more bizarre than anything you would believe in a novel. Sometimes you laugh out loud at the outrageousness of it all...[her] mission is to amuse and entertain

—— Marcus Berkmann , Daily Mail

What's not to like?

—— David Sexton , Evening Standard

Very thoroughly researched

—— Observer Food Monthly, Books of the Year

Scintillating reading.

—— Leicester Mercury

[The] ultimate page-turner.

—— Zest

A compulsive collection.

—— Independent on Sunday

Shocking and often moving... An insightful peek at other people's hearts and minds.

—— Good Housekeeping

A balanced and considered approach to this often inflammatory topic.

—— Nature

A colorful romp through psychology, philosophy and popular culture.

—— New Humanist

Witty... [Bering] employs examples and analogies that make his arguments seem like common sense rather than the hard-earned scientific insights they really are.

—— New Scientist

[T]he psychologist Jonathan Haidt shows in his wonderfully smart and readable "The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom" [that] modern science and history have a lot to say to each other

—— Darrin McMahon, The Washington Post

Haidt's remedy for the modern glut of frivolous self-help literature is to review and revise the classics, examining the ideas of thinkers like Plato, Buddha and Jesus in light of modern research into human behavior. Along the way, Haidt, a social psychologist, provides practical advice for parenting, romance, work and coping with the political and cultural divisions currently preoccupying the country. The new science he outlines mostly confirms ancient wisdom, but Haidt finds several instances where the two disagree, suggesting that the surest path to happiness is to embrace and balance both old and new thinking

—— Psychology Today

This unusual book sets itself apart from the self-help category with its extensive scientific references, and intelligent, neutral prose, while the author's illuminating illustration of how the human mind works is both educational and refreshing

—— Sunday Times

Rising stars of 2015: one to watch

—— Guardian

Using a series of fascinating case studies as a framework, Dr O’Sullivan skillfully weaves the historical understanding, and misunderstanding, of functional illness into a series of narratives that are moving and thought provoking.

—— Adam Staten , British Journal of General Practice

A sympathetic, insightful study of psychosomatic illness

—— Charlie Hegarty , Catholic Herald

An excellent study of psychosomatic disorders

—— Stuart Kelly , Scotland on Sunday

Fascinating foray into the subject of how mental factors affect our health.

—— Simon Shaw , Mail on Sunday

Her Book, shortlisted for the 2016 Wellcome prize, describes case histories…with precision and compassion.

—— Jane Shilling , Daily Mail

It’s not only a beautifully written book…it’s also a book to start a revolution in healthcare.

—— Helen Rumbelow , The Times

Humane and deeply sympathetic.

—— Jane Shilling , Daily Telegraph

Impressively vivid and sympathetic argument for the reality of the mind’s more harrowing inventions.

—— Brian Dillon , Irish Times

A compassionate, honest and compelling read.

—— Lady

She mixes an easily accessible vocabulary with complex medical terms, something which I found both enjoyable and informative… Ultimately I found this book quite fascinating… I would recommend this book, which contains some hard hitting and highly personal stories.

—— Independent Nurse

A great immersion in psychosomatic problems… If you want to get a head-on feeling for the clinical experience of psychosomatic patients, read this book.

—— Edward Shorter , British Medical Journal

[A] controversial but utterly compassionate memoir.

—— Damian Barr , Guardian

It is as addictive as a great box set makes you rethink some of your closest relationships and wonder about some of the people you know best; and above all, like all truly great book it is about love and compassion.

—— Sathnam Sanghera , The Times, Book of the Year

Epstein is too respectful of the complexity of his subject matter to leap to any grand conclusions. The book was conceived partially as a rebuttal to glib theorising, and it is all the more fascinating as a result

—— Ken Early , Irish Times

Fascinating from start to finish

—— Amanda Khouv , Women's Fitness

Epstein forces us to rethink the very nature of athleticism

—— GrrlScientist , Guardian

Looks at the science of extraordinary athletic performance.

—— Adam Whitehead , Daily Telegraph

Captivating… Dazzling and illuminating

—— Richard Moore , Guardian

Epstein is not afraid to follow science in “trekking deep into the bramble patches of sensitive topics like gender and race"

—— Choice

Captivating… In a particularly fascinating chapter, Epstein investigates an old theory that purports to explain why Jamaica produces so many Olympic sprinters

—— Christie Ashwanden , Scotsman
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