Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #105604 in Books
• Published on: 1994-09-30
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Amazon.com
Throughout the 1970s, as he wrote the "American Journal" feature for the New Yorker, Calvin Trillin crossed and recrossed the continent. Braver than most transients, he dined in every manner of restaurant, sampling all kinds of native cuisine. He tirelessly sniffed out plain but great joints where the local people loved to eat. "[Don't take me to the] place you took your parents on their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, [but] the place you went the night you came home after fourteen months in Korea." As a result of such hard-nosed pursuit of good food, this "Walt Whitman of American eats" produced three delightful books chronicling his gastronomic journey, and they have now been collected into The Tummy Trilogy. Trillin is a marvelous writer, affable and witty under any circumstances. He's also an extremely enthusiastic eater, so the books are filled with gourmet brio. Here's a sample from the first book, American Fried:

ME: Anybody who served a milkshake like this in Kansas City would be put in jail.

ALICE: You promised not to indulge in any of that hometown nostalgia while I'm eating. You know it gives me indigestion.

ME: What nostalgia? Facts are facts. The kind of milkshake that I personally consumed six hundred gallons of at the Country Club Daily is an historical fact in three flavors. Your indigestion is not from listening to my fair-minded remarks on the food of a particular American city. It's from drinking that gray skim milk this bandit is trying to pass off as a milkshake.

This book is almost as fun as tucking into a big, delicious meal (but no substitute, of course). Trillin's family, long-suffering in the face of a father's obsessions, is as winning as always. If you're a dedicated fan--or just dipping into the writing of this good-natured maestro--The Tummy Trilogy is a wonderful book. --Michael Gerber

From Publishers Weekly
New Yorker writer Trillin, known for his slow-burn, deadpan humor, reads a selection of 17 pieces from his previously published essay collections American Fried, Third Helpings and Alice, Let's Eat. Helpful introductory comments include, "I'm here to tell you that compared to a monkfish, the average catfish looks like Robert Redford." More broadly, the message for restaurateurs is to avoid the pretensions of establishments referred to collectively as La-Maison-de-la-Casa-House and to embrace the authentic merits of the Buffalo chicken wing, the Chinatown noodle and the New York City bagel. The message for the rest of us is to eat without shame or remorse, to approach every meal (even the dreadful scrambled eggs Trillin mentions he was once in the habit of making for his daughters) with the same welcoming smile that this deft writer and performer leaves on everyone who listens to him. Based on the FSG hardcover.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This trilogy consists of American Fried, Alice, Let's Eat, and Third Helpings, which were published between 1970 and 1983. LJ's reviewer was charmed by the food writings, stating that "Whether Trillin is writing about changing the traditional Thanksgiving meal from turkey to spaghetti carbonara, or about a clambake at a gentleman's club, his humor is of the very light sort, a cup that cheers, but does not inebriate" (LJ 4/1/83). This edition contains a new foreword by the author.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Tummy
I still have not received my book and you or the seller have not responed to my emails. ARE you going to send me one or give me credit??????

I getting tired of no one responding. What gives???

trillin but....
amusing but not as clever or bitingly witty as Traveling with Alice. Trillin is a great food writer but at times he needs to edit himself. His shorter works are more entertaining

Funny Foodie Confesses All
This review refers to "Tales From The Tummy Trilogy" by Calvin Trillin(audio cassette)
He is in search of the perfect bagel. He researches the history of Buffalo Wings, and can tell you if the stain on your shirt that gives away you've been eating them, is from very hot or medium hot wings. He stresses greatly if his favorite cheese shop closes for a holiday. And has stories that will make you both laugh out loud, and ravenous for each and every dish he describes.

Calvin Trillin gives us an hysterical look at the serious foodie. He confesses all, and is proud of it! " Tales From The Tummy Trilogy" include selections from "American Fried","Alice, Lets Eat" and "Third Helpings" He travels the world looking for the best cuisine. No not your high priced fancy shamancy stuff, he's looking for some good old down-home BBQ, making friends with guys who's wife are from the old country and can make a decent dish without adding cream of mushroom soup to everything, and he shows his appreciation for a meal well done, by what else..having third helpings. This to the frustration of his wife, who is trying to keep him on a healthy diet.He pokes fun at his own food addiction and his need for passing it own to his own daughters.

His accounts may make you run to the fridge. I practically ate my way through this very funny book. I took to listening to it on the treadmill in the gym(to help burn off the extra calories i was consuming). I laughed out loud several times, and when I got stares from the other gym rats, I just smiled and held back what I was listening to, for fear of getting hit with flying water bottles!

This audio edition has 2 cassettes, for a total running time of about 3 hours. The reading itself was told with a very unique sense of humor, told in such a serious tone. The sound quality was very good. It is an abridgment. I had never read any of the books that had these selections, so it was all fresh and new to me. So I would say if you have already read them, this will all be repeat stuff(my reason for 4 stars).

Well, as much fun as this book was, I am glad I have finished it and can back to my protein bars and salads!

Enjoy the read....Laurie