Travel Dining On A Shoestring Budget

Three meals for $40 may sound impossible, but that is the premise for the Food Network production $40 A Day, hosted by Rachel Ray. During this brief 30 minute program, the vivacious, thirty-something, brunette takes her audience to a new location each week, from large cities to quaint smaller towns, finding unbelievable bargains and tips for finding moderately priced dining options all over the world. In her recently published book, Best Eats In Town On $40 A Day, Ms. Ray takes her readers inside the program, providing amusing anecdotes about the making of the program, tips for dining while traveling, recipes from her favorite restaurants, and a personal description of a few of the many restaurants she has visited for the filming of the series.

Ms. Ray is the author of several previous books, including the 30 Minute Meals, which just happens to be the title of another program she hosts on the Food Network. This volume includes loads of color photographs from Ms. Ray's travels at home and abroad, travel tips and off- the- cuff quotes in bold red print such as: "Covered with signatures of famous musicians and movie stars, and taco lovers from around the globe, the colorful wall indicates that Maria's is Austin central."

This entertaining souvenir book includes an introduction, which is primarily a list of all the people that have contributed to Ms. Ray's success in the filming of her television show. The next section contains a series of travel tips, with a brief paragraph explaining each tip, written in Ms. Ray's folksy, colloquial, writing style. Most of the tips are pretty much common knowledge, and have been previously revealed on the television show. I did not find anything really new or particularly enlightening in this section.

The second section is entitled Inside Gossip, subtitled Questions I Shouldn't Answer...But I Will. The questions vary from subjects like the amount of gratuities paid for the restaurant visits, to the methods used for locating the restaurants in each city.

The remainder of the book is divided into six sections; North, South, Midwest, West, Hawaii and Europe. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction from Ms. Ray, pointing out the unique features of the locale such as climate, tourist attractions, and personal experiences in the area. The introduction is followed by a brief description of the each of the three meals and restaurants visited during the taping of the show in each area. Some chapters include visits to bars and specialty shops for drinks, snack or deserts. The chapters also contain several colorful photographs of local scenery, restaurants, and candid shots of Ms. Ray and the friends she has made on her travels. Recipes for special culinary delights discovered on the $40 a day trips, are included in some chapters.

Ms. Ray's travels have taken her everywhere from her home area of Saratoga Springs, New York to Savannah, Georgia, Sedona, Arizona, and the three Hawaiian Islands, to Rome and Amsterdam. The book features a total of 55 cities worldwide. Recipes include such tempting delicacies as Breakfast Bruschetta, Fried Green Tomatoes, Sweet Potato Pancakes, and Chicken Piccatta.

Rachel Ray's Best Eats In Town On $40 A Day, makes an excellent gift book, and may come in handy for the frequent traveler looking for bargain meals in various locations. I also enjoyed revisiting some of the locations I had seen on the television show, as well as, Ms. Ray's flare for putting the same informal, personal touch, into the writing of her book, as she does in her television show.

One word of caution, however, is included as a warning at the end of the book: "call ahead before visiting the recommended restaurants, since things are guaranteed to change, even though the facts in the book were double checked." While on a recent vacation, I made the mistake of trying to visit a restaurant Ms. Ray had recommended on her show in Sausalito, California, only the find that the restaurant is actually in San Francisco.

Other than that minor complaint, and the fact that I didn't find the travel tips to be particularly helpful, I found this book be a delightful companion to the television series and a combination informal travel guide, recipe book, and photo album.

Product Description

Format: Paperback
Published: Lake Isle Press (2004)
ISBN:8911056175
Size: 9.1x7.5x0.7
Weight: 1.6 lbs
224 pages
Retail Price: $16.95