Fast Food Books

The cookbook lives up to its name. The introduction says, "Every recipe has appealing, innovative flavors created from easy-to-find meats, poultry, and fish, garden-fresh produce, and creative seasonings." That's true. More than half of the recipes are pictured. The photographs make every dish look appealing. Each recipe is on its own page which makes it easy to find and easy to follow. Nutritional information is included for those who have dietary concerns. One large section is dedicated to vegetarian main dishes which many cookbooks ignore. I like what I've made so far, but I believe there is one flaw. The recipes are easy to prepare IF you have the ingredients on-hand. Many of the recipes call for ingredients most people might not have on-hand. Some recipes are definitely seasonal unless you don't mind paying higher prices for out-of-season produce. If you plan your meals and shop from prewritten lists, you'll be in great shape to have wonderful, tasty meals. Otherwise be prepared to spend time searching for ingredients before you can create one of these easy-to-make dishes.

for those that eat fast food but obsess over how many clories or grams of fat are in each item. It really give you a new perspective on this stuff. For example, french fries and soft serve icecream at mcdonald's aren't as fattneing as I thought they were but pizza sure is.

as an asian american, the type of themes discussed here are fascinating, particularly for those of us who are both hyphenated americans of any sort. as well of fascination is the whole concept of being in between generations, such as 1st, 2nd, etc. but this book points out that one can even be a fractional generation. in asian cultures such as japan, china, and korea, there are actual words which identify what generation of ethnicity one is in a new land, and this book reinforces this. a great read for anyone who claims identity between 2 or more cultures.

This book is the best thing that ever happened to me. I eat at Mcdonald's two times a day. I enjoy McNuggets for breakfast, a Big Mac Value Meal for Lunch, and a sensible dinner. Then I have four sensible snacks right before I go to bed. I get up in the middle of the night to take a #2 (which consists of my #2 value meal). This book is a must buy!

Reviewed by Gracie Fowler (age 14) for Reader Views (6/07)

Stuffed is about three teenagers who watched a movie about the dangers of fast food, particularly a place named Frankie's (Super size me, anyone?). While at first the main character, Ian, doesn't take to the idea of giving up his fries, his friend Julia jumps right into the idea of fasting from fast food, and her doormat boyfriend and Ian's best friend, Oswald, agrees with her (although we all know he's craving a double cheeseburger). But after Ian decides that he could incorporate the anti-Frankie's buzz with his mass communication project in computer science, he writes a letter begging people not to eat at Frankie's on Friday the 13th. He sends this message to forty of his friends (via MSN) and asks them to send the message to forty of their friends.

By the next day, the message has crossed the Atlantic Ocean and is all over America. When Ian gets home, he has more than 600 emails, mostly in support of his project. But one of those emails was definitely not supportive. It was from Frankie's lawyers, telling him that if he continued to spread the message, he would be sued. But the lawyers didn't know something--Ian's parents are lawyers too. They schedule a meeting, and Frankie's suggests a bribe: If Ian calls off the boycott, Frankie's will supply a free lunch to everyone at his school on Friday the 13th. Ian and Julia can't believe their ears, and say they will decide later. This splits the school in half...and the drama continues. The story ends with unsurprising results and an unlikely, but expected romance.

The story plot within itself was good, but the beginning was hard to get through and the middle seemed incomplete, although I must say, the lawyer humor was pretty funny. I would recommend "Stuffed" to kids beginning middle school, and is a great way to show kids that one person can make a difference.

There are a few parts of this book that get weighed down with excess words. But this book will crack you up. It's a series of misunderstandings, crossed signals, oddball characters and general goofiness. Very funny.

This new 288 page book is packed with over 500 black and white photos (16 page color section). It provides over 2,200 realistic prices for the items. Major topics range from Arby's, Burger Chef, Hardees to McDonald's, Wendy's, White Castle and many more. Interesting and useful text is included with each major topic. You'll want to add this book to your collectibles library if fast food collectibles are in your collection.

I didn't like Feed, so I approached this novel apprehensively. But I found it's simplicity refreshing and it's sarcasm entertaining. While it wouldn't be my pick for the deepest or most moving story, it's pretty good, and I think, worth reading.

Anthony, a typical self-conscious high school student, is miserable. He was dating Diana, the girl of his dreams, and everything was going well. She seemed to enjoy spending time with him and even appreciated his very odd, sarcastic sense of humor. Then one night Anthony and Diana went to a party. They lost track of each other, and later Anthony found Diana making out with Turner, an arrogant guy she worked with at O'Dermott's, a fast food restaurant. Anthony was furious at this scene and vowed to win Diana back and to get revenge on Turner.

The first step in Anthony's plan is to get a job at O'Dermott's, especially after Turner dumps Diana and Diana quits working there. Once there, Anthony befriends Shunt, the disgruntled anti-establishment cook who wants to start a resistance movement to undermine the company. Together, Anthony and Shunt form a plot to capitalize on the rivalry between O'Dermott's and Burger Queen. Shunt hopes to disrupt the shooting of an O'Dermott's commercial in their town, and Anthony just wants his girlfriend back. But can they pull off their plan without getting caught?

Most of the characters in this story were great--they each had distinct personalities and problems that came through and made the plot more interesting. I liked the insight into fast-food places and the rivalry this book showed between the employees of these restaurants. I thought the idea of the grammar patrol, roaming around and fixing graffiti, was hysterical.

However, some of the characters, including Anthony, were annoying. He was so obsessed with Diana and so clingy, I don't understand how anyone would want to date him. His parents, with their habit of listening in on his phone calls, were also annoying.

Although teen romance is not something I go for often, I liked this book. I guess one really couldn't term it as romance per se though. Anthony is trying to revenge himself on Turner, who stole his girlfriend at a party one night. In order to do this, he joins O'Dermotts (where Turner worked), and even enlists fellow employee Shunt while pretending to be interested in Shunt's crusade against the fast food corporations. Shunt is the epitome of PETA-ness, if there is such a quality, and he tries to exacerbate the war between O'Dermotts and rival fast food joint, Burger Queen.

This book is wacky and realistic--for, even though the characters themselves often come across as exaggerations (like Turner, Shunt, etc), the truths Anderson portrays about teenage life and love are true. A hillarious novel, with all the interesting background touches that make Anderson stand out as a great novelist--such as the gang of teens that go around correcting grammar on signs and graffiti.

I had high expectations for this book. It had an unique title, an interesting cover and the back cover made it seem like it would be outstanding. Anderson has a talent for capturing the genuine essence of teenage love, and he also has a talent for making his characters seem like real people, (especially the parents in the story... their dialogue resonates with authenticity.) However, this book wasn't as hilarious as I thought it would be. It was definitely humorous and original, but not hilarious. My biggest gripe about this book was that Anderson made it so that practically every teenage character said "like" after and before every word. If he wanted to establish characters with more realistic individuality he should not have done this, because while it is true that many teenagers say like quite often, not every teenager says it... instead of making seperate characters with seperate unique personalities, he seems to have created all the teenage characters to fit within an adults stereotype of teenagers.. and I think in that respect any discriminating reader or teenager can notice this as a flaw. Also, some of the conversation between a love struck teenage couple seemed far fetched. They talked to eachother in their own secret language, and while I've known teenage couples to be like that, I couldn't picture any teenagers speaking the way they were speaking. My last gripe is that throughout the book the main character is sometimes referred to as a freaky kid or a wild and crazy kid, but to me he basically seemed like a normal teenage guy. At time Anderson did have a way with words and descriptions which is worthy of praise. I like the authenticity of the emotions in this book, and I thought the ending was a great ending because it was realistic and it pulls on one's heartstrings.

A character with a strong voice goes a long way, but mix in a shot of humor and a few dashes of the issues teens deal with, and you've got a winner. M.T. Anderson's Burger Wuss has so many right ingredients that's it's tough for me to tell just what I didn't like about it.

Anthony is so likeably helpless, the loser we all want to win. He's the guy who thinks that "There is a certain ferocity you need, to be a teenager in America," and is cleverly nive enough to mean it when he says it, even if he doesn't understand what he's saying.

And Turner's the opposite. From the moment I met him, I didn't trust him. I wanted him to drop his cell phone in the fry grease, walk into the cross hairs of a bird turd, put on magic shop deodorant that smells like onions, rip the back of his pants open on a bull's horn, gouge his knee on a VW bug bumper. You get the picture. None of those happened to Turner in the book, in case you had a visceral reaction to what I just said and made up new four letter swear words, scratching a thick "X" across your computer screen with your locker key. I made all those up.

But they could have been real, and I could have wanted Anthony to do them to Turner. That's how I felt, for a while. Then things switched on me. Someone changed my mind about him, and I started to see him as pathetic. Maybe that's what I didn't like about him. I wanted him to win so badly (Isn't that what we want for our heroes?) that I was disappointed when he turned out a sort of anti-hero, the kind that we're supposed to learn from in all the wrong ways and that leave a sour wrinkle in our brain because things aren't entirely right. Which isn't always bad, is it? Love, friends, jobs, family - they don't always work out. Life doesn't end up all whipped cream and strawberries all the time. Neither should books. Or so they say.

Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

I read other reviews on this book and they all said it was okay .So i thought that i would buy it and check it out for my self and i should have returned it .I like Rocco and his moms cooking but this book leaves you thinking where are all your good receipes

Did not enjoy book. Food to heavy and no focus on health, portion control, calories in meal. Too saucy. Would not buy another book from author. Style was very diffrent than showcased on the biggest looser; which by the way was very inspiring. Missed the mark. Great cover.

It certainly isn't a basic cookbook that you use constantly, but it is a nice addition to any collection. He has lots of nifty features such how to stock a pantry, and how long each recipe takes. It is good for days that you want to whip up something quick and good (which is the point) with only one drawback, almost all the recipes require some "special" ingredient you are not likely to have around the house. Many of the meals, even though they are meant to be "last minute" require either a trip to the store or some advanced planning, which to me isn't very last minute. However, if I were to go to the store for a quick meal, I would certainly use this book for ideas, as opposed to getting the rotisserie chicken I usually end up with.

This is the first cookbook of Rocco Dispirito that I have purchased, and the last. I have used his recipes from Food Network website, and thought this book would be useful. I admit that I just got it yesterday and have not tried the recipes yet, but I am not sure that I can given how he has sold out to Bertolli, Amore and other food companies. I have never seen such blatant product placement in a cookbook. It just turns me off. Such a shame. He is a charismatic, handsome, very talented guy. Who would have thought he would need to make a deal like this to make money.

I don't mind the mention of brand names of products. While it might be product endorsement, it also allows me to purchase the exact items that he used for the recipes. I love the layout of the necessary ingredients and supplies needed. Recipes are actually something I would make and pull off well. I enjoyed how he gave us a few pages of techniques. Aside from being a great cookbook, it is also a great read.

I am amazed by how simple and fast of all the recipes within the book!
I was skeptical about the quality of a fast meal but after having a few tryouts with some of the recipes I was blown away!
Even my friends can't believe how easy and delicious it could be!

Highly recommended for 20s-30s who stays alone and away from home :P

I really did not like this book! I live in a small city so a lot of the ingredients in the recipes were not available to me. I mailed the book back the very next day of receiving it. If you like simple food or simple recipes this book would not be for you.

The food looks great, but most things call for some fancy ingredients. I don't have enough room in my kitchen for all the ingredients he wants you to have always on hand. I would certainly buy things to use in a recipe occcasionally, but a lot of things I don't think I would use again. The "well-stocked kitchen" things are mostly conventional, but I can't keep on hand several kinds of potatoes, several kinds of oils, several kinds of vinegar, and so on. He also wants you to grow your own herbs. I will probably make up a few of these, but the concept of "fast food" is destroyed by having to go out and buy the ingredients first.

One does not need all the time in the world to eat a healthy, delicious, and nutritious meal. Gordon Ramsey, celebrated TV cook, brings readers "Fast Food", a cookbook featuring recipes that can be prepared start to finish in about fifteen minutes (none take longer than half an hour apiece), and offering advice to make cooking these dishes even quicker. Readers who want a cookbook that doesn't take hours to use need look no further than Gordon Ramsey's "Fast Food". Recommended for community library cookbook collections.

If you are allergic, or don't like seafood, don't buy this book. It's very heavily weighted to seafood. There are also a number of ingredients that are either very hard to come by in North America, or some that I couldn't even figure out what they were! Of the other recipes, some of them are much too obvious and easy, such as fajitas...