The Man Who Ate Lincoln Road

New Zealand journalist Steve Braunias can make a cabbage sound exciting just by looking at it and writing about what he sees. 

The New Zealand Herald journalist turns up at events - not often to cover the hard news angle of the story or the verdict of a court case. He's generally there to watch and write about everything else that's happening around him - eg how many times the lady in row three of the court public gallery sneezed and what she did while sneezing. 

And in his new book The Man Who Ate Lincoln Road he takes a similar approach.

In 2016 Braunias, a West Auckland resident, approached the New Zealand Herald and pitched the idea of going to and eating at all of the then 55 food joints on West Auckland's Lincoln Road and writing about his experiences each week. 

So this book is a collection of the pieces published in the New Zealand Herald but also includes some extra chapters as well as some great gems in the form of footnotes, albeit in tiny font, previously not published.

Braunias talks about the food he orders, the price of it and ranks each food joint.  He talks to other diners, sometimes the owners of the respective food joints and gives a bit of a social commentary on Lincoln Road - a road that most New Zealand cities and towns have.

If you like Braunias' other books, then you will love this book. However, be warned - you may feel like a hamburger and chips or some fried chicken after reading it.