Eat Pray Eat

by Michael Booth

'The next Bill Bryson.’ New York Times

World-weary, distracted and more often than not the worse for wine, Michael Booth really needed to make some major changes to his life. Instead, he embarks on an over-ambitious, self-indulgent attempt to write the definitive book on Indian food, taking his wife and two young children in tow.

They criss-cross India, from mist-shrouded Delhi to Mumbai and the slums of Dharavi, meeting the locals and samplying different cuisines along the way. However, his plan is derailed as he spirals deeper into his metaphysical middle-aged malaise, finally unravelling amid the sweltering heat of the Keralan backwaters.

Fortunately, his wife takes control and enrolls her disintegrating husband in a hardcore yoga boot camp, enlisting a wise meditation guru who helps him chart a path towards enlightenment. But will Booth's cynicism and untrammelled appetites prove his undoing? Can he regain his balance, conquer his anxieties and face up to life as a husband and father?

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Memoir, Food, India, Spirituality, Humor

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2011

About the author

Michael Booth is an English food and travel writer and journalist who writes regularly for a variety of newspapers and magazines including the Independent on Sunday, Condé Nast Traveller, Monocle and Time Out, among many other publications at home and abroad. He has a wife, Lissen, and two children, Asger and Emil.

In June 2010 Michael Booth won the Guild of Food Writers/Kate Whiteman Award for work in food and travel.

Reviews

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

very funny book I particularly enjoyed his accurate yogi descriptions.. met a lot of these types in various yoga classes over the years

[Divakar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Michael Booth is a recent discovery for me. I read his delightful ‘The almost nearly perfect people’ which was his take on the utopian Nordic countries and found it amusing and insightful as well. With great hope bought one of his earlier books ‘EAT PRAY EAT’ which is his discovery of India – its cuisine and its people - interwoven with his middle age crisis as a not so successful writer.

There are actually two books in this book. At one level, it is interesting if you read it as the anxieties and angst of a man punching below his weight in life who finds the world passing him by. A married man with two kids and his struggles with his editors / publishers and his idiosyncratic views on life and his worries that he will end up as a has-been consumed by alcohol.

If you read it as a travelogue…of his travels in North, meandering into Mumbai and finally ending up in South - then it is a different story. He has uncharitable views on most things Indian. Having said that, Question is why I got annoyed about this…probably because our ability to digest a white man’s unvarnished view on our country and all its problems is low. We are so brainwashed on the India on Steroids / largest democracy / secular / vibrant economy etc. etc. that we find it difficult to absorb an outsider’s critical view of all the muck and filth around us relative to the orderly world that he comes from.

Story in the end takes a happy ending when he cleans himself out in a yoga camp in Kerala. And from what we know, he has made a reasonable success of his life later with multiple best-selling travelogues to his credit.

Overall avoidable…the one liners are good but if we want one-liners to keep us amused….we can view any standup comic on YOUTUBE rather than enduring this book.

[Masuma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has offered a full breadth of emotional experience that did employ every part of my body in its best endeavour to empathise with the author’s life slides, Indianised. Such humour, such colourful writing. Absolutely creatively drawn his various Indian scenes.
lately I have been doing Pilates, my instructors find me just too flexible to get into any pose, so swiftly they say, and my appearance is always calm/painless, but what this book teaches me is the focus on breathing right, I have taken that as my input to improvise.

You live through him, and if you are an Indian reading this book, you are in for such a splendid time. such great laughter.

Beautiful moments.

I will buy this book. It’s a keepsake.

Thankyou very much!

That day I randomly chanced upon this book....at the library, luck had me. Yay!

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that seems to be divided into two parts: in the first one the dissolute life of a man destined to an early death induced by his vices, but very funny.
The second part, instead, struggles a bit during "enlightenment" and subsequent possible redemption thanks to yoga and new awareness.
In the meantime India is the background.

Un libro che sembra essere diviso in due parti: nella prima la vita dissoluta di un uomo destinato ad una morte precoce indotta dai suoi vizi, ma molto divertente.
La seconda parte invece, arranca un pochino durante "l'illuminazione" e successiva eventuale redenzione grazie allo yoga e alla nuova consapevolezza.
Nel frattempo l'India che fa da sfondo .

[Shrilatha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I must confess that I picked up this book just by looking at the name of the book. What an awesome name! But the book didn't quite live up to my expectations. I generally find India travelogues by foreigners interesting. But this one felt like too much of a rant-fest. It feels like a book version of the show Idiot Abroad. Also, this is less of a travelogue and more of a self-discovery kinda book, n not an interesting one at that.

[Ɲuha U-ssef ii]

<3

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was browsing for a new book when I came across Eat Pray Eat by Michael Booth. I often go for travel books, and if that travel takes place in India, well, that is a bonus.
Michael Booth throws a lot of humour into the mix, which for me, is always welcome. Some of what he writes about here can get a bit heavy at times, but the writers’ ability to balance this with a bit of light sarcasm helps take the edge off.

I feel the book is split into two halves. The first half builds an image of a man who is perhaps not fully enjoying or appreciating where he finds himself in life. He comes across as someone who feels saddled with various apprehensions and anxieties surrounds life in general.
Without trying to give too much away, the book later looks at how his journey through India and his experiences along the way. You get to see how these experiences open his eyes and alter his perspective.

The excerpt below is the typical form of humour/sarcasm that you can expect throughout the book:

“Meditation has also been proven to strengthen your prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain which is most damaged by the distractions of the modern age, like the internet, endlessly flicking TV channels, or checking every five minutes to see how many people haven’t visited your blog.”

[Meredith Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy reading books about places I have been as much as the places to which I am yet to travel, especially when author can perfectly capture the essence of experience of a location’s character. This is exactly what Michael Booth does in “Eat Pay Eat” which chronicles his trip (with wife and two young children) to India in attempt to write the definitive book on Indian food. As the travel across the country from the pink city of Jaipur (with buildings faded to a shade of salmon like a German gam show host’s blazer) to the sludgy litter-filled open-sewered slums of Mumbai, they meet locals and sample the ‘swirling cavalcade of aromatic flavours’ of food along the way, which are all brought to life through his writing. The fact that Michael Booth is not ‘the sort of person who sits cross-legged on floors like some moth-eaten hippie’, only adds to the authenticity of his observations in what is a very readable account of a world in which guests are considered temporary deities by their hosts and the traffic is unlike anything you have ever seen.

[Becky Mears · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book celebrating life and how you sometimes have to take an unexpected route to help you appreciate it more. It's also a lot about food so that's always a winner for me.
I really enjoyed this book despite reading it in an unusual way. I went to the library to find a book about Kerala but on not finding one picked this one up instead. Started reading it conventionally but couldn't get into it so I skipped to the chapters set in Kerala . I then got engrossed in his unwanted experiences of yoga and meditation and read right up until I could see he was winding down to returning home and as I wasn't ready to leave I went back to the beginning and then came back to the final 2 chapters. As a foodie myself I loved his food descriptions and was truly inspired by how introducing yoga and meditation to his life in a non zealous way helped him with his demons. I'll be looking up some of his recommendations prior to my trip to Kerala so I got my guide book after all!

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really, really laugh out loud funny. His wit and voluminous vocabulary would raise a Vulcan eyebrow or two but it is all in good fun. I loved the jam-packed descriptiveness. Though I missed the side-aching bits towards the end, his self-deprecation had to culminate in something that we readers could value...

The yoganic (let us keep it a "living" language, shall we?) bits were just shy of too in depth to get the point across but I do enjoy yoga. If I didn't, it might make me wonder when he was going to summarize.

I still question the barber's intentions.

Highly recommended. I endeavor to read more of his work. Go to Portland, Oregon Michael...it is a foodie haven worth a visit.

[Bill Leach · Rating 2 out of 5]

A story of the author's trip to India with his family where his initial preoccupation was with eating. Far from being a book on cuisine, he lists the various foods without any detail on ingredients, preparation or culture importance that would add to the reader's knowledge of Indian foods.

The second half of the book talks of his involvement with pranayama yoga and transcendental meditation, partially as an intervention with his alcoholism. The author does not believe himself to be a spiritual person but does decide there is a positive effect on his mental and physical habits.

The book is interspersed with travel anecdotes of mild interest.

[Jenn Morgans · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sort of just wanted a book about Indian food that is frankly too spicy for me to eat, and I got a pleasing amount of that, although I also got very caught up in Michael’s very personal breakdown and am so pleased he found some equilibrium at the end! It was a bit of a surreal read in that I found him to be a strangely accurate mix of my (dead) alcoholic father, and me, in that his thoughts and reactions to various situations struck a little too close to home in places. Funny and enjoyable, and I’m glad I read it, but it did end up being slightly harder work than I’d anticipated.

[Marilee Steffen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author Michael booth relates his experiences with his wife and two young boys during a three month stay in India. He was overweight, depressed and drinking to excess. Anxious, irritable, and difficult to live with, his wife gave him an ultimatum; either take a yoga class from an Indian master, or she and the boys would return to England without him. Booth describes his intense classes and their effect on him and how he eventually also took up meditation. I found the yoga/meditation part mostly boring but the descriptions of life in India were fascinating to read.

[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious and all the themes I like reading rolled into one -- food, travel, yoga, relationships, journey of self-discovery. His self-deprecating humor and well-balanced perspective on the contradictions of India keep moving what is a bit of a slow plot. I enjoyed it and highly recommend it (especially as an antidote to Eat Pray Love). Thanks, Michael, for getting me back on course with my morning sun salutations and evening meditation! If you can do it, so can I :-)

[Julian Chan-Diaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable, easy read.

A rather witty writer, Booth's accidental stumble into the realm of self help literature is a comedic, curious and engaging account of his travels in India. Despite the first half feeling a bit muddled between a travel diary and culinary review, the author's tone is cynical in the most humorous way exposing the quirks of a country so far removed from western culture. Booth opens a window into another world and I, for one, was intrigued the way through.

[Sue Mah · Rating 4 out of 5]

So relatable on so many levels for me right now. From the need to get over my neuroses to my love for Indian food, Michael Booth hit the nail on the head with this book. Not only did he illustrate the ‘real’ India so honestly that it hurts, he was also very forthright about his own personal issues and how he tried to overcome them. Some methods of which I’m going to try myself.
Humorously brilliant and informative. Excellent read!

[Caron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took this book with me on holiday to India and it quickly become a wonderfully entertaining travel companion; the writing will be all the funnier if you've visited India yourself. The final chapters offer a more serious exploration of yoga and meditation, and while most of the humour dries up at this point, the book offers an inspiring exploration of the topics.

[Soaraway · Rating 2 out of 5]

This guy is a total loser. I think he makes himself out to be even more pathetic than he really is in an attempt to be funny but it falls flat. I just spent most of the book wanting to punch him. I have no clue how his wife endures him.
Don't waste your time.

[Delphine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed a lot reading this book during my commute to work. It's so well written and funny. Also the last part is interesting in my opinion to learn more about how and why yoga and meditation can be really good for your mind and body!

[Sanat Gersappa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me laugh. A lot.

[Mila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three words- LOL- laugh out loud. Enjoyed it thoroughly- a travelogue written in a most witty and hilarious way. I Recommend it to everyone who wants to laugh till they cry.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot and enjoyed armchair travelling with the Booth family in India as well as Michael Booth's experiences with yoga and meditation.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and amusing.

[Adoptry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read, some very good witticisms thrown in at the right spots, and an honest memoir. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

[Catherine Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and entertaining.

[Sarede Switzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable read. Got me curious about Prana Vashya Yoga and what relationship it has/had to Ashtanga and the rift with Pattabhi Jois.

[Swati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Booth visited India at a point when his life was in disarray. He was drinking way too much. He was eating way too much. And he wasn’t writing or spending time with his family enough.

Fed up with the way things were, Booth’s wife Lissen insisted that they take a break together, as a family. Her suggestion was to go to India for three months where Booth would also attend a yoga retreat for a few weeks apart from engaging in research for a commissioned feature. In “Eat Pray Eat” Booth talks about their experiences and his journey through his struggles.

At first, Booth’s anxiety is at its peak as he worries about every single aspect of their upcoming travel. The water, food, places of accommodation, everything appeared as black zones boding illness. It takes a while but slowly India works its charm on him and he begins to accept the little discomforts and problems that come with being in a foreign country.

Booth presents us with a frank, no holds barred narration, which flatters him the least. He talks about his anxiety, which at times controls his decisions and life so much that he is unable to do the things he loves. He feels undisciplined and he doesn’t like it when he leaves his family to themselves many times as he gets busy researching and writing the feature.

Booth is aware of his wife’s unhappiness and frustration and he bares his guilt and helplessness in equal measure to us. He is so honest and vulnerable that he managed to arouse annoyance as well as empathy in me. And he made me chuckle too with his witty observations of the nooks and crannies of life in India.

Booth’s experiences are also a different perspective of an India that I would never experience. I have always enjoyed reading travelogues set in India written by non-Indians and this book was great in that sense too.

I got this from my library and I highly recommend it to you if you are curious to read about India from a fresh pair of eyes.

[Tom Aves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zabawna relacja z podróży po Indiach ewoluuje w stronę krytycznej oceny własnego życia, filozofii i religii. Ciekawe, lekkie, zabawne, momentami daje do myślenia.

[Jo Lin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Refreshingly honest in its reflections on the poverty in India

[Kaylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed Sushi and Beyond so much that I instantly decided to read the rest of Michael Booth's books, assuming I'd love them all just as much. In practice, they've been hit or miss, and none have risen to the level of that first experience. Last time I read Eat, Pray, Eat, I didn't get much out of it. I've been somewhat dreading having to reread it just because it's the only one of Michael Booth's books I actually own. (I gave the other two as gifts, respectively before or after reading them myself.)

There's not as much food writing in Eat, Pray, Eat as that title, and Michael Booth's other works, might imply. While there are snippets of descriptions of Indian foods, dishes are not described in detail, nor is any attention given to how things are cooked. If you are hoping Eat, Pray, Eat will be for India what Sushi and Beyond was for Japan, you will be disappointed.

As with The Sex Lives of Cannibals and Charlotte Street , what you get instead of food in the first half of Eat, Pray, Eat is quite a lot of whining and dissatisfaction from a British, middle-class, middle-aged man. Michael Booth is slightly more self-aware of just how much sympathy this actually deserves, which makes it more tolerable. It certainly sets up the second half of Eat, Pray, Eat, which has even less food writing in it than the first half.

Despite this, the prose throughout the book is consistently engaging and enjoyable. Writing about meditation — clearing your mind of anything but breath or a mantra — really shouldn't be interesting, and yet, Michael Booth manages it. This is the kind of travel writing that focuses on people and their idiosyncrasies, rather than sights seen. Michael and his family do visit some tourist hotspots, but they don't linger and not that much description is given.

Eat, Pray, Eat is a different book than I was expecting, but once I was able to get past that, I thoroughly enjoyed it!