'Food Whore,' the 'Devil Wears Prada' for Foodies, Lands Movie Deal

Food Whore: A Novel of Dining and Deceit is getting the silver screen treatment. The recently published book from author Jessica Tom, chronicling the tale of a New York food lover who illicitly ghostwrites reviews for a Times critic who's lost his sense of taste, will be made into a movie by DreamWorks, Variety reports.

Food Whore, published on October 27 and described as the Devil Wears Prada for foodies, has received decidedly mixed reviews from those entrenched in the NYC food scene. Adam Kuban, the city's resident pizza expert, is a fan, saying he "got a real kick out of it." Real-life Times food critic Pete Wells slammed the book, calling it short on accuracy, therefore unbelievable.

"The dishes Monroe reviews, things like herring with curried goat cheese curd, read like bizarre word salads, even by the striving standards of New York dining," Wells concludes. "The everyday foods seem made up, too. On a quiet night at home, Monroe and her roommate eat mayonnaise on Triscuits garnished with lettuce 'for an extra dose of freshness.' Even if you've lost your sense of taste, that little snack might be hard to swallow."

Considering the novel's mixed reception and the shaky track record of food films — they're either great or awful — the outlook for Food Whore as a major motion picture is murky. Tom can only hope cinema critics will treat her story better than the universally panned Burnt, Hollywood's latest dive into the restaurant world. Eater's Joshua David Stein called that disastrous flick "little more than Gordon Ramsay propaganda."