Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost and Found [Hardcover]

Bill Keaggy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 2007

Cabich, bird fude, nodiles, buttmilk, dog yogurt, bannes, hare sope, cream of salary soup.

What do these things have in common? They're all items from real grocery lists. Whose lists? Who knows. The lists were found discarded in shopping carts, dropped on supermarket floors and parking lots, even tucked in returned library books. But the fact that they were discarded is not what's interesting about them. It's that they were found - found and/or collected by Bill Keaggy, proprietor of Grocerylists.org and the author of the world's first compilation of lost grocery lists. This book.

If we are what we eat, then this book reveals deep and strange truths about the average food shopper (not to mention more mundane facts like a lot of people love vodka, banana is actually very difficult to spell and that butter used to be dyed yellow using marigolds).

Separated into chapters - funny lists, sad lists, unhealthy lists, organized lists - the book also includes humorous commentary by the author and some delicious recipes created from found grocery lists. Quirky sidebars and odd food facts round out the menu.

*Translation: Cabbage, bird food, noodles, buttermilk, dog yogurt (duh), bananas, shampoo, cream of celery soup.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Grocery List Collection is compulsive reading." -- The New York Times, 2007

"a unique voyeuristic delight" -- ESPN Radio, 2007

"hilarious" -- mental_floss, 2007

"jaw dropping, mercilessly snarky" -- The Tampa Tribune, 2007

"laugh-out-loud pleasure" -- BookPage, 2007

From the Inside Flap

FROM THE AUTHOR
"These found grocery lists are rare specimens. I have a collection from around the world that numbers in the thousands, but it has taken years of hunting and gathering. People are very protective of their grocery lists. I call it selective littering. Seems most folks would sooner dump their car ashtray in the grocery's parking lot or toss a week's worth of soda cans and fast food bags on the ground outside the store (and they do) rather than leave their list in a shopping card. It's because grocery lists are supposed to be private. Never mind that all of us have to go through the checkout in public. Our lists are supposed to be private, and that's why it's so enjoyable to look through them -- unless one of the lists happen to be yours."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: How (April 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581809417
• ISBN-13: 978-1581809411
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #605,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bill Keaggy is a collector, maker and breaker of things. Originally from Ohio, he lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his wife Diane, and children Liam and Sorena. He likes found objects, photography, sandwiches, smoothies, design, collecting, family, bikes, books, Pinot Noir, people falling down, bowling, horseshoes and teh Intar-Web.

A complete archive of his projects can be found here: http://www.keaggy.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You will find one of your OWN shopping lists in this collection!, May 23, 2007

By 

R Schmidt (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost and Found (Hardcover)

How often do you drop your used shopping lists into the shredder? I would expect you would reply, "Never". And because of this, Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost and Found, by Bill Keaggy, was born.

I was just walking by a bookshelf when my eyes lingered for an extra second on this book. I think my first impression was that it was a cookbook by some over-the-hill rock stars... I mean, milk, eggs, and vodka? But where was the subtitle, "Meatloaf's/Pink Floyd's/Grand Funk's roadie cookbook."

Then I caught the real subtitle: "Grocery Lists Lost and Found."

It was intriguing enough that I picked it up off the shelf.

This was a really entertaining collection of real shopping lists, with the wrinkles and creases, the torn edges, the use of scrap paper, the misspellings, and America's diet (there is a reason obesity rates are on the rise) all laid out in their glory.

There is enough of a collection that at least one of these discarded lists will look familiar.

Is it yours?

Fine literature these lists, and this book, are not. However, the collection was interesting to peruse, and I'll bet this would be a great icebreaker at a party (take turns trying to read the lists on each page... "hookers and blow"?). This book would also be a great present for that friend or family member with that good sense of humor.

Now that I've read Milk Eggs Vodka, I suspect I will pay a bit closer attention to what I write down on that scrap of newspaper. After all, Bill Keaggy may be the next person to use my grocery cart.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars really funny, May 20, 2007

By 

Phillip Walker (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost and Found (Hardcover)

Just got my copy of this one a few days ago. Really very funny. The book covers all manner of grocery lists, from those filled with dreadful mispellings (my lord, our education system is in the toilet), to the totally absurb. That someone actually made a list consisting of stamps, fish and "undies" is pretty funny. There's another with cellophane, garlic bread, butter, eggs, hookers and blow. Makes you wonder what kind of party they were having.... There's also a great deal of commentary from the author on food facts and our peculiar list-making obsessions. I think another reason why the book is so cool is the look and feel of it. Some books are just so nicely designed you want to own them for that aspect of their appeal alone. This one certainly measures up to that standard. The design reminds me a bit of Post Secret. The content is, as noted in another review, similar to what you'll find in Found (which I also have). But personally Milk Eggs Vodka made me laugh a lot more than Found did. Maybe it was the focus of the material or the author's sense of humor, or my own quirks, I'm not sure. A good time, regardless.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, November 1, 2007

By 

Jennifer A. Wickes "Food Writer" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost and Found (Hardcover)

Bill Keagy shares his love of the unusual, your discard shopping list. At his website and his book, Milk Eggs Vodka, we get to see what some people are shopping for, as well as Keagy's humorous commentary. It is completely amazing to see the misspellings and how our own shopping list can be seen as a source of amusement for others. This book is funny and irreverent and worth taking a peek.