Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth [Paperback]

Tucker Shaw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 26, 2005

Tucker Shaw is a man who loves to eat. And for 365 days, from January 1 to December 31st, he has photographed every nibble, entre, side dish, and snack, every slice of birthday cake, poached egg, mango pavlova, and bacon cheeseburger. Everything I Ate is Tucker's personal homage to food, and in a culture where food is so often the enemy, where so many of us seek to suppress our appetites and conceal our guilty pleasures, this curiously intimate food diary is an out-and-out celebration of the joys of eating. Arranged in chronological order and featuring short captions including date, time, food, place, and any company enjoyed, the photographs reveal one man's rituals and patterns (he has a brief love affair with a morning brioche, but it is his midnight bowl of cereal that really stands by him in the end). What exactly does this food play-by-play prove? The simple truth that personal data is extraordinarily universal. Here is a tribute to the ways in which food sustains us, connects us, and makes us human. With 2500 color images packed into nearly 500 pages (and too many calories to count), Everything I Ate is a fast-paced ride through one man's year-long culinary adventure.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Shaw likes cold cereal. Bananas, oatmeal, ice cream, Popsicles, trail mix and brioches also figure prominently in this peculiar illustrated chronicle of every food Shaw tasted in 2004. Everything. In a gustatory form of navel-gazing for the new century, Shaw snapped a photo before taking a bite of anything from fine dining to his almost nightly bowl of cereal, and has assembled the pictures in order by day, creating both a dizzying collection of the copious food available to the contemporary urban dweller (Shaw lives in New York) and a delectable look into one man's life. Many of the pictures are small and hard to discern, many hunger inducing, some unpalatable. Each is accompanied by a brief description telling when, where and with whom the food was consumed (for take-out, Shaw also usually notes the restaurant the food is from). Some foods are photographed in front of the television or a newspaper; some include a hand or other errant body part. Certainly not for everyone, this daily repast is mundane and repetitive, yet holds genuine appeal for foodies, current and former New Yorkers in love with the city's dining pleasures, and those who just find the quirky habits of others intriguing. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

You could have fearlessly bet money, a lot of it, that I'd love this new book, Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth, by Tucker Shaw (Chronicle Books, $14.95). It combines a lot of my favorite things: food, pictures of food, restaurants, home cooking, New York, Las Vegas, Italy, obsessiveness, lists, holiday celebrations, rituals, and so on. Mr. Shaw, a New York writer of young adult novels with snappy titles (Confessions of a Backup Dancer, Flavor of the Week), as well as a book of sex advice for teens with a snappy title (This Book Is About Sex), photographed everything he ate in 2004, from oatmeal in the morning to cold cereal late at night (he must have a cereal collection rivaling Jerry Seinfeld's), often traversing fancy restaurants and takeout shops during the day. -SF Weekly

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (May 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811847721
• ISBN-13: 978-0811847728
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,607,950 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Guilty Pleasure, June 7, 2005

By 

Steve R. Kolb (PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth (Paperback)

I felt the same way seeing Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth for the first time as I did when I found the key to my 14 year old sister's diary. Guilty pleasure! Shaw offers a very complete tell all romance journal of everything he ate. Presented in a daily format with clever hand written introductions to each month, the photos seem to have something more to say then what was on his plate. The ice cream cone he ate Forth of July week-end was framed by two big butts. Was this his way of saying Americans are too fat? And did I see every Golden Girl at least somewhere in book? Can Shaw be responsible for getting Lifetime to put this modern classic back on in its rightful 11:00/11:30 time slot?

I was amazed by the range of food in this guy's life and equally intrigued by this guy. Who is he? You for sure get a personal glimpse into his crazy world to develop a crush. The cute photo of him just confirms your feelings! I kept wishing I was one of those people he was eating with. I like pizza, cereal, cheese, wheat grass, sushi, more cheese and anything else he put in his mouth. Do I need to say more?

Shaw, a talented writer who has written many books already (I loved "Flavor of the Week"), is an equally talented photographer. His images are so artfully shot you'll want to have the actual prints to frame and hang. They would look koolest in the kitchen.

I highly recommend Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth. This is one choice that won't give you indigestion.

By the way, where in the hell is Tink Wig, PA?

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tucker Gnaw, January 9, 2006

By 

Westley (Stuck in my head) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth (Paperback)

Have you ever wondered what other people do when they're alone? If so, then you're going to love this book because Tucker Shaw divulges every detail of his life. Well, every detail of his gustatory life. I don't know much about Tucker Shaw, but he sure does love to eat. Shaw decided to take a picture of everything he ate for 2004. Every single item. Every single day. Day in. Day out. The idea probably sounds ridiculous to most people, but the execution of "Everything I Ate" is excellent and I enjoyed it immensely. Each picture is accompanied with a blurb detailing what, where, and with whom he ate.

Given that Shaw lives in NYC, it's not surprising that what he eats is pretty diverse. Sure, he often snacks on potato chips and Entenmann's pastry, but he also eats at quite a few upscale restaurants on a regular basis. Clearly, he has access to diverse ethnic foods, and he takes full advantage of it. However, people are certainly creatures of habit, and Shaw seems to be more than a little obsessed with cereal (300 bowls during the year).

Whether you read each page or just skim the pictures, it's a fascinating book. I was left wanting to know more. Who are these people with whom he eats? (Some little snippets of his friends can be seen throughout). Why did he eat trail mix almost every day for several months and then never again? How in the world can he eat so much oatmeal?!?!? Like any good book, "Everything I Ate" leaves you begging for more table scraps.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW....i want to live in new york, July 9, 2005

By 

SabinDC "SabinDC" (Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth (Paperback)

I saw this on the Today show and it sounded like a cool idea so I googled it and found an interview with the author on www.gothamist.com. The book seemed cool so I bought a copy last night. It was pretty cheap, only 15 bucks but now i see it's only 10 on amazon so i should have got it here.

It is amazing and it must have been so much work. I was surprised at how fun it is tolook through the food. There is so much to eat in New York!! He likes the same kind of yogurt as me/greek yogurt. He eats a lot of cereal. The book was kind of emotional because you can tell from the food when he was in a good/bad mood or happy/sad. He eats fancy meals but also junk. Also you get to know who his friends are because he wrote down who he ate everything with and the same people keep coming up like Henry and Danny and Susan.

I've never seen a book like this. He said he wants it to be a time capsule. I would get this for a present for someone, it's cheap and cool.