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Theory and Practice of Lunch
Keith Waterhouse is very particular about what lunch is 'It is not prawn cocktail, steak and Black Forest gateau with your bank manger. It is not civic, commemorative, annual office or funeral. It is not when either party is on a diet, on the wagon or in a hurry.' He is equally precise about what lunch 'It is a mid-day meal taken at leisure by, ideally, two people. Three's a crowd, four always split like a double amoeba into two pairs, six is a meeting, eight is a conference... A little light business may be touched upon but the occasion is firmly social. Whether they know it or not, for as long as they linger in the restaurant they are having an affair. The affair is lunch.' The Theory and Practice of Lunch is an authoritative and delightfully witty manual on the art of taking the most agreeable meal of the day, written by a shrewd observer of the passing show who listed his sole hobby in Who's Who as 'Lunch'.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published March 26, 1987
About the author
Keith Waterhouse
86 books24 followersKeith Spencer Waterhouse CBE, was a novelist, newspaper columnist, and the writer of many television series.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 27, 2010
This book is ridiculous and shamefully difficult to find. It's about lunch, proper lunch, and the proper way to eat it. It's a little silly, but also pretty brilliant. I love it.
May 31, 2022
A nifty little number from Keith Waterhouse: a potboiler, a paean, a memoir, The Passionate Lunchard to His Love, a rant, a glossary, a recommendation, a noontide flâneur’s guide to restaurants worth patronising, a meditation on memorable meals, an encomium for wine, a companion to companionability, a guide to table talk – indeed, what you will.
A lovely series of saunters through a luncher’s lifetime of enjoying and reflecting on the pleasure of eating in the middle of the day.
A lovely series of saunters through a luncher’s lifetime of enjoying and reflecting on the pleasure of eating in the middle of the day.
April 2, 2024
I’ve read so much self help in my life it makes me embarrassed, but this is the only book that has given me true moments of introspection, have I ever actually had lunch? A proper lunch?
It’s great, genuinely the most delightful book I read last year. To the chagrin of flatmates and visitors I would read passages out loud all the time because it was so brilliant
It’s great, genuinely the most delightful book I read last year. To the chagrin of flatmates and visitors I would read passages out loud all the time because it was so brilliant
October 14, 2020
If you care about lunch, I think you have to say you've read this book. Waterhouse's take on this meal is a lot different than mine, but his point is made: don't let it pass unintentionally.
April 11, 2022
A light thing and a little dated in places. Left me hungry for lunch which is as it should be.
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February 19, 2024Clever and fun to read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews