The Trouble with Brunch: Work, Class and the Pursuit of Leisure

A screed against brunch, a "cesspool of stress"? A polemic directed at "a religion of aesthetic wastefulness," overpriced food that is "overthought and overrated" and turns an otherwise socially aware individual into a "monstrous amalgam of Ayn Rand and Margaret Thatcher"? Yes and yes. Adopting the acerbic, curmudgeonly persona fitting for an attack against such a beloved institution and building on work by Victorian social theorist Thorstein Veblen, "creative class" popularizer Richard Florida, and brunch historian Farha Ternika, Micallef lobs insistent criticism at the middle class (especially the urban hipster subclass in Toronto, London, Brooklyn, and Buenos Aires) and its "uncritical milieu of consumption." Though focusing tremendous ire on the meal and the word "foodie," his true concern is with a class that is steadily losing leisure time, wealth, and social position while adamantly refusing to see the truth. Of course, a polemic comes with its dangers: the author often appears self-righteous, inflexible and smug. And his stances, whether about middle class delusions or fruitless quests for authentic experiences (or the meal itself, a "ritual intake of grease") can likewise register as wildly overstated. Still, acid-tongued, witty, and drily clever, the book is a pleasure to consume. Agent: Samantha Haywood, Transatlantic Agency. (Aug.)