The Restaurant: A History of Eating Out by William Sitwell, a review

Listened to this book on the libby app as an audiobook. Quick review.

It gives us a quick history of the modern restaurant from the places in ancient Pompeii to the french revolution and the birth of french cuisine, and off to the birth of modern American and British restaurants. In the middle we read about some Indian restaurant, the culture of eating in the middle east, and journeys across the Ottoman empire and differences in culinary practices across the region throughout various eras.

Yes, it's highly euro-centric, but does make an effort not to be. Yes it follows the traditional pattern of focusing on the past thirty years of the restaurant industry, which isn't really 'history' per se, but it excels when it does not. It is excellent, it's not a global history of restaurants, but it does a very good job at giving the reader an idea of eating out in 'the west' meaning western europe and America.

8.5 out of ten.