Fast: Press reviews

'This excellent book is an account of a “meander” though the capital in order to “winkle out something of what it all looks and feels… like to eat on the hoof in the streets of London.” Jackson, who is a learned and entertaining guide, reminds us that the term “fast food” has been debased by its association with “globalism and US imperialism” – in short, with McDonald’s. He wants to remind us of what fast food was once all about: “countless small-scale institutions which sprang up across the centuries” to serve a “ragged army of citizens without a kitchen."'

New Statesman

'Great pictures make you want to eat greasy chicken out of a cardboard box, like, right now.'

Guardian

'An unashamedly delightful tour through the capital’s fish-and-chip shops, kebab palaces, fried chicken emporiums and even the dreaded hot-dog stalls… Elegantly written, and often very funny, it's as much social document as it is gastronomic adventure.'

Mail On Sunday

'A ripping tour around the fast-food emporia of the capital, from the tandoori restaurants of Southall to the bagel shops of Brick Lane, taking in Starbucks, Pizza Huts and McDonald’s along the way. But this is no guide book. It is a fond rummage through the polystyrene cartons and chip papers of the takeaway business, with generous portions of sociological observation served on the side. Jackson’s starting point is that, with each wave of immigrants bringing their own street food with them, fast food has much to teach us about the past. Bite into a saveloy, and you see the history of London running through it. He sees his tour around the city streets as a clothesline on which to hang his history lessons, such as the derivation of the word ketchup, the origins of the hot dog, the evolution of the coffee shop, and the rise and fall of the milk bar. As Jackson says, there’s more to the takeaway than meets the eye.’

The TImes

'In Fast: Feasting On The Streets Of London the writer Kevin Jackson and photographer Richard Heeps join forces for a droll and eye-opening (if not always appetite-whetting) tour of informal eating in the capital. From burgers in Soho and beigels in Brick Lane to balti in Southall (unsurprisingly, a genuine culinary highlight of their trip), the iron-gutted duo savour all the grease and the glory of the caff culture we know and - sometimes - love. Like his mentor Iain Sinclair, Jackson turns Michelin-starred prose onto KFC-level urban raw material, although his street-food cred is slightly marred by an admission that he really prefers tapas. What, a saveloy with curry sauce not good enough for Sir?'

'Pick of the Picture Books', Arts and Books Review, Independent