The Tummy Trilogy [Paperback]

Calvin Trillin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 1994

In the 1970s, Calvin Trillin informed America that its most glorious food was not to be found at the pretentious restaurants he referred to generically as La Maison de la Casa House, Continental Cuisine. With three hilarious books over the next two decades—American Fried; Alice, Let’s Eat; and Third Helpings—he established himself as, in Craig Claiborne’s phrase, “the Walt Whitman of American eats.” Trillin’s three comic masterpieces are now available in what Trillin calls The Tummy Trilogy.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (September 30, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374524173
• ISBN-13: 978-0374524173
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Cooking
  • #62 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Gastronomy > Essays

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Saluting America with coleslaw October 31, 2001

By Eric Krupin

Format:Paperback

What qualifies the author to write this book is concisely summarized in a quote from his daughter: "Daddy likes to pig out." In the grand history of American gluttony (dating back to the first Thanksgiving dinner, I suppose), no one has ever pigged out with more demonstrable relish and native lack of hauteur than Calvin Trillin. His ode to the glories of Arthur Bryant's Barbecue - The Single Best Restaurant In The World - is a dithyramb worthy of Whitman. He is, in short, a true patriot - albeit one whose vision of multiculturalism is expressed in Italian fried-pepper sandwiches and Polish pierogies. There are lots of laughs in this volume but I value it more for its whole-hearted embrace of our authentic appetites. In a time of spiralling culinary pretention (whose standard bearer is Charlie Trotter and his dishes with paragraph-long names), "The Tummy Trilogy" is a palate-cleansing dish of sanity.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Warning: Stock the fridge before you read these books July 6, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

The books in Calvin Trillin's Tummy Trilogy instilled in me forever a love of reading books aloud and an insatiable penchant for "American cuisine." I grew up reading them to my mother, a caterer, as she was busy in the kitchen. Aside from being absolutely hilarious, his descriptions of different dishes - from the humble french fry to more exotic regional dishes - would make our mouths water. Those descriptions and stories have never left me, and I've made a point of trying to visit some of the places he described in his books, including what I'd have to call a pilgrimage to the legendary Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City. Books to be savoured over and over again, preferably with an Italian sausage sandwich in hand.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A gourMAND as well as a gourmet December 7, 2000

By S. Mason

Format:Paperback

Trillin talks about food cleverly and with great humor, but not snobbily. I learned all about barbecue in Kansas City, oyster po'boys, Chinese food in NYC, and a ton of other delicious things. Three of the best food books of all time! But also excellent reading for someone who just enjoys well-written and funny stories.