Why do people now read more menus than recipes? Are food critics all corrupt? How can we feast while half the world starves? Is it safe to eat vegetarians? And how can anyone get a table tonight in Europe’s most fashionable restaurant?

These are some of the questions answered in Kitchen Con, a remarkable new book about the business and pleasure of dining.

Trevor White grew up in the restaurant business before embarking on a career as a food critic in the great cities of the world. In this bittersweet exposé, White reveals how diners are routinely duped, with reference to his own career and to some of the biggest names in the racket.

But Kitchen Con is not merely a memoir, or indeed a polemic about culinary egomaniacs. From the world’s first restaurant to the most fashionable kitchens in London, Paris and New York today, this radical critique of restaurant culture redefines the dining room as a place in which humans should be greatly satisfied, rather than an artist’s studio.

Fearless, funny and thoughtful, Kitchen Con lifts the lid on the culinary cartel, before turning its attention to the greatest con of all. No one is spared in this riveting tale of life at the heart of the restaurant racket.