This book is the work of 15 years: weekly restaurant columns in The Times and over 100 weeks spent in provincial British hotels. Meades, more than any other British food writer, has tried everything and everywhere once and this book is the record of that gravy-stained odyssey. It isn't always pretty but it is the authoritative record of the alleged British gastronomic revolution of the past 20 years. But much more than that, this is a treasure trove of Meades's singular and audacious prose, a heady mix of acute social observation, architectural and topographical commentary, deep satirical humour and an unshakeable commitment to telling the truth, whatever the consequences.