The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Prawn Cracker
Appearance
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Author | Will Self |
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Language | English |
Series | Penguin Specials |
Genre | Novel |
Publisher | Penguin |
Publication date | United Kingdom 01 February 2012 |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Pages | 50pp |
ISBN | 9780241962619 |
The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Prawn Cracker is a collection of Will Self's Real Meals column for the New Statesman. Covering such things as London Cheesecake, Pizza Express, ready meals and fast food cuisine. The title is a play on Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Content
The collection of columns covers a variety of non-traditional culinary experiences to provide a counterpoint to the more idealistic style of food reviewing. Self's stated aim for the column was as follows:
- Most food writing and restaurant criticism is concerned with the ideal, with how by cooking this, or dining there, you can somehow ingurgitate a new - or at any rate improved - social, aesthetic and even spiritual persona. I aimed to turn this proposition on its head, and instead of commenting on where and what people would ideally like to eat I would consider where and what they actually did: the ready meals, buffet snacks and - most importantly - fast food that millions of Britons chomp upon in the go-round of their often hurried and dyspeptic lives.[1]
Reviews
Benedicte Page writing for The Guardian observed...
"...it sees Self take an entertaining trip around the less celebrated of our eateries while dissecting his own fast-food addictions."[2]