"Witty, wise, and, obviously, delicious." --Guardian "Hilarious, informative, enlightening, instructive . It's the funniest book I've read all year." -- Chris Evans "A glorious book! Delicious nourishment for every cell in the body." --Jeff Goldblum "Among foodies, a common parlor game calls for participants to design their last meal on earth. What players choose says a lot about them, whether they go for some elaborate dish like tournedos Rossini or choose a simple, well-prepared roasted fish. British food writer Rayner (The Man Who Ate the World, 2008) has thought long and hard about his last meal, even surveying academic papers on death-row inmates' desires, and considered many dishes for his final meal. He realizes that in an actual death-facing situation he might be too emotionally wrought to enjoy much of any food.

Nevertheless, he considers oysters from both sides of the Atlantic and recounts experiences with oystermen on Louisiana's Gulf Coast. He explores whole pig consumption with notable nose-to-tail chefs, and remarks on the irony of his porky appetite bumping up against his Jewish roots. Recipes for some of these recollections appear, simple recipes that require near-perfect ingredients to achieve proper effect. For a sweet ending, he searches for a perfect example of Mont Blanc, a cake enrobed in chestnut paste." Booklist "A raucous, joyous celebration of life, family and friendship, laced with music, butter, wine, deliberately good and bad, pig-related culinary suspense as taut as a MasterChef final, and a bittersweet, bordering on dark, aftertaste . At once everything you'd expect and want it to be." --Irish Times "Laughs aplenty . Peerless.

" -- Literary Review "Rayner proves a gifted raconteur. Anecdotes trip off the tongue as easily melted lard . A tour de force of spectacular storytelling." --The Herald "Gluttonous, frank, full of feeling and bound with music . Undoubtedly, it will have you considering your own tastes, then feverishly scribbling down your own last triumphant meal." --The Irish News.