# Gastroanomalies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 16, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gastroanomalies/433705 "2008-01-16T04:26:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gastroanomalies/433705/1 "2008-01-16T04:26:12Z")
It’s pretty obvious from my name that I’m a Marx Brothers buff. And I’ve mentioned several times that I have an extensive collection of American humor books. I’ve edited a collection of humor pieces that I chose from a database of almost a thousand short parodies that I’ve read. I’m saying I’ve read a _lot_ of humor. Most than almost anyone. In a way, I’m victim to my love of humor. I don’t laugh any more. I just nod and think: that’s a good line. (Or more frequently: that line is stolen from x.) It’s like being a porn editor. After a while you burn out and think only of camera angles and lighting. So when I say that I just read a book that made me not merely laugh out loud but forced convulsive laughter through my lips (and sent my wife into a breakdown of giggles), I’m saying that this is one motherfudging funny book. Some of you won’t be surprised when I tell you the name of the author. James Lileks. The book is his latest, [Gastroanomalies: Questionable Culinary Creations from the Golden Age of American Cookery](http://www.amazon.com/Gastroanomalies-Questionable-Culinary-Creations-American/dp/0307383075/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200456227&sr=1-1). Lileks has been doing this stuff for years and years at his website, [likeks.com](http://likeks.com), but I’m a grumpy old print guy and I never found the website as funny as having the book in hand. (I’m so old that in the 1990s I bought his books collected from his column before he ever thought of going on the web.) Whatever. This book is more of what he’s famous for, but the commentary is better and funnier than anything I’ve ever seen him done. He made me laugh. Out loud. Nothing does that any more. Go buy this book. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gastroanomalies/433705/2 "2008-01-16T12:45:56Z")
Got it for Christmas. Have as many of his books as I’m aware of. Love Lileks! The very first one I got was The Gallery of Regrettable Food, which a friend gave to me because he thought it was a genuine cookbook, and he had seen me looking at it at the bookstore. Before I had any of his books I was a regular at [lileks.com](http://lileks.com), so in my little world the web site came before the print. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gastroanomalies/433705/3 "2008-01-16T18:00:13Z")
Hey, I got it for Christmas too! I love it…I’ve got all the books published since _Gallery of Regrettable Food_. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gastroanomalies/433705/4 "2008-01-16T18:37:54Z")
Is he the one that had some online running commentary about food that was titled _Don’t Eat it!_ or something along those lines? It had pictures of disgusting things you could buy at the grocery store like soft, juicy pig skin in a jar and huitaloche (sp?) that was little more than bug-infested corn and his commentary was gut bustingly hilarious. Hmmm… maybe a different guy. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gastroanomalies/433705/5 "2008-01-16T18:49:36Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] Is he the one that had some online running commentary about food that was titled _Don’t Eat it!_ or something along those lines? It had pictures of disgusting things you could buy at the grocery store like soft, juicy pig skin in a jar and huitaloche (sp?) that was little more than bug-infested corn and his commentary was gut bustingly hilarious. Hmmm… maybe a different guy. [/QUOTE] Nope, that’s [Steve, Don’t Eat It!](http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/cat_steve_dont_eat_it.php)