My Last Supper by Jay Rayner (Audio Book)

 

My Last Supper by Jay Rayner.

Narrated by Jay Rayner.

Released 3rd September 2019 by Faber Audio.

From the cover:

You're about to die. What would your final meal be?

This question has long troubled Jay Rayner. As a man more obsessed with his lunch than is strictly necessary, the idea of a showpiece last supper is a tantalising prospect. But wouldn't knowledge of your imminent demise ruin your appetite?

So, Jay decided to cheat death.

The plan was simple: he would embark on a journey through his life in food in pursuit of the meal to end all meals. It's a quest that takes him from necking oysters on the Louisiana shoreline to forking away the finest French pastries in Tokyo, and from his earliest memories of snails in garlic butter, through multiple pig-based banquets, to the unforgettable final meal itself.

My Last Supper is both a hugely entertaining account of a life built around mealtimes and a fascinating global exploration of our relationship with what we eat. It is the story of one hungry man, in eight courses.

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As a food critic, Jay Rayner is often asked about the dishes that would make up his final meal, should he be about to shuffle off this mortal coil - a question he admits to having dodged many times over. However, it is one which has set him thinking over the years. He eventually decided to take the question and bit more seriously and consider the dishes that would take pride of place in his terminal banquet - and then give the whole concept a radical twist by putting together this feast without the need to wait for his demise.

In this book, Rayner takes us through the various courses that would make up his meal to end all meals, incorporating such delights as oysters, snails, pork, bread and more, and tells the story of his quest to visit restaurants and food producers the world over in pursuit of the finest examples of each of his dream dishes. What follows is a foodie's delight, as he delves not just into the dishes themselves, but the highs and lows of his search for the kind of perfection that makes his taste-buds sing.

But this book is also so much more. Woven into chapters that are headed by the foodstuffs he is focusing on for each course, there is a wealth of anecdotes and personal stories about his life, touching on his childhood, family, career as a journalist, and musical diversions, and it's all fascinating - in turns intriguing, humorous and deeply touching. These chapters also incorporate a very diverse playlist to accompany the banquet, and tasty recipes to try out yourself too. The book concludes with the account of Rayner's last meal surrounded by friends and family, with a very poignant thread that brought a tear to my eye.

I thoroughly enjoyed this audio book, especially since I am very interested in food and cookery, but there is also plenty here to entertain if you are not fixated on eating - although I defy you not to feel hungry as Rayner tells of one delicious morsel after another! His narration is natural and engaging too, which makes this very easy and relaxing to listen to. This was just my cup of tea, if you will pardon the refreshment pun!

My Last Supper is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats from your favourite book retailer.

About the author:

Jay Rayner is an award-winning writer, journalist and broadcaster with a fine collection of floral shirts. He has written on everything from crime and politics, through cinema and theatre to the visual arts, but is best known as restaurant critic for the Observer.

For a while he was a sex columnist for Cosmopolitan; he also once got himself completely waxed in the name of journalism. He only mentions this because it hurt. Jay is a former Young Journalist of the Year, Critic of the Year and Restaurant Critic of the Year, though not all in the same year. In the 2016 British Press Awards he was shortlisted for both Critic of the Year and Specialist Journalist of the Year. In 2018 he was restaurant writer of the year in The Fortnum and Mason Food and Drink Awards.

Somehow he has also found time to write four novels and six works of non-fiction. His latest book is Wasted Calories and Ruined Nights, a second collection of his most negative restaurant reviews. His next book will be My Last Supper: one meal a lifetime in the making, which will be published in September 2019.

He chairs BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet, and is a regular on British television, where he is familiar as a judge on Masterchef. He performs live all over the country, both in his one man shows, and with the Jay Rayner Quartet, a jazz ensemble in which he plays piano. He likes pig.