Regular readers of my reviews will know well that I’m not keen on the ‘secret’ methods for gaining wealth, health or happiness that become successful and, more or less always very quickly, fade away back into the nothingness whence they came. In short, I have no time or energy for bullshit.
Anthony Warner (AKA The Angry Chef) is a kindred spirit in this regard. He is, quite definitely, ANGRY about the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and others who peddle pseudo-science and other kinds of nonsense, giving people false hope which, at times – as Warner points out – can lead to death. He’s had enough of diet celebrities who make a fortune peddling their elixirs and lifestyle methods which simply often feed the emotional turmoil of many and makes their lives an even greater misery.
What is refreshing from this critique is that Warner doesn’t really offer his own alternative version of lifestyle and dieting and admits that it may well turn out that some – not many – might turn out to have a grain of truth about them. His point is that they are presented as though well-researched and give countless unverifiable anecdotes that all but the extremely well trained will be taken in by, but they are not well researched at all; far from it.
And so he takes an epic voyage dissing multiple different diet and lifestyle gurus and presents varied ways to spot bullshit. He does so with reasonably good humour and his final message is a pretty sage one: have a good relationship with food and enjoy it, always in moderation, always sensibly and always in conjunction with getting good advice from actual doctors where you might have health issues. It’s always with the aim to have a healthy happy relationship with food. He’s not wrong.
That said, his mocking and jeering does tip over into condescending and I could do without the inane conversations in his own head and his ‘Science Columbo’ routine which is vaguely amusing once but quickly become boring after a while. And so, for that reason, I’m knocking off a star.
Is this a life-changing book? Possibly, if you’ve become fixated with diets and you’re convinced the state is lying to you or even that packeted food is bad for you or that you shouldn’t eat potatoes. Definitely if you believe in a ‘caveman diet’ or anything silly Paltrow comes up with. This book just might restore joy to your life. For the rest of us, it is good to confirm what most of us know – that a little of what you like does you good and if we’ve survived hundreds of years eating it, it is probably ok to continue with. Just avoid indulgence. And health gurus.
Social Entrepreneur, educationalist, bestselling author and journalist, D K Powell is the author of the bestselling collection of literary short stories “The Old Man on the Beach“. His first book, ‘Sonali’ is a photo-memoir journal of life in Bangladesh and has been highly praised by the Bangladeshi diaspora worldwide. Students learning the Bengali language have also valued the English/Bengali translations on every page. His third book is ‘Try not to Laugh’ and is a guide to memorising, revising and passing exams for students.
Both ‘The Old Man on the Beach’ and ‘Sonali’ are available on Amazon for kindle and paperback. Published by Shopno Sriti Media. The novel,’The Pukur’, was published by Histria Books in 2022.
D K Powell is available to speak at events (see his TEDx talk here) and can be contacted at dkpowell.contact@gmail.com. Alternatively, he is available for one-to-one mentoring and runs a course on the psychology of writing. Listen to his life story in interview with the BBC here.
Ken writes for a number of publications around the world. Past reviewer for Paste magazine, The Doughnut, E2D and United Airways and Lancashire Life magazine. Currently reviews for Northern Arts Review. His reviews have been read more than 7.9 million times.
Get a free trial and 20% off Shortform by clicking here. Shortform is a brilliant tool and comes with my highest recommendation.
Social Entrepreneur, educationalist, bestselling author and journalist, D K Powell is the author of the bestselling collection of literary short stories “The Old Man on the Beach“. His first book, ‘Sonali’ is a photo-memoir journal of life in Bangladesh and has been highly praised by the Bangladeshi diaspora worldwide. Students learning the Bengali language have also valued the English/Bengali translations on every page. His third book is ‘Try not to Laugh’ and is a guide to memorising, revising and passing exams for students.
Both ‘The Old Man on the Beach’ and ‘Sonali’ are available on Amazon for kindle and paperback. Published by Shopno Sriti Media. The novel,’The Pukur’, was published by Histria Books in 2022.
D K Powell is available to speak at events (see his TEDx talk here) and can be contacted at dkpowell.contact@gmail.com. Alternatively, he is available for one-to-one mentoring and runs a course on the psychology of writing. Listen to his life story in interview with the BBC here.
Ken writes for a number of publications around the world. Past reviewer for Paste magazine, The Doughnut, E2D and United Airways and Lancashire Life magazine. Currently reviews for Northern Arts Review. His reviews have been read more than 7.9 million times.
Get a free trial and 20% off Shortform by clicking here. Shortform is a brilliant tool and comes with my highest recommendation.
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