...
Show More
I loved his frankness and coarseness, the way he didn't beat around the bush and told it as it is. Also, his reading of this book was excellent!
Ease Reading-Find Your Next Favorite Book
Community Reviews
Rating(3.8 / 5.0, 99 votes)
5 stars
26(26%)
4 stars
31(31%)
3 stars
42(42%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
99 reviews
...
Show More
If you are like me and love food, watching Top Chef and Food Channel, think that cooking is art, an outlet for creativity, consider chefs featured on such shows (including Anthony Bourdain) as super-sophisticated artists, you are up for a surprise with this book.
Bourdain definitely crushes all preconceived notions we might have about the industry. You remember those foul-mouthed, unkempt, ever-fired-and-hired kitchen workers with shifty pasts you've come across at some points in your life? I thought I simply had a misfortune of working in crappy places, but, apparently, all cooks are exactly like that! There is no such thing as a sophisticated cook, according to Bourdain. In his book, cooks are a dysfunctional lot - drug-addicted, unable to hold a "normal" job, people from the fringes of the society. Actually, Bourdain is one of these people himself. He supports this statement by numerous stories of his drug-, crime- and sex-infused culinary career. As for artistry in cooking, there is none. Cooking is all about mindless, unvarying repetition. Only a few executive chefs in high-end restaurants have a luxury of being creative with the food they make.
Besides the anecdotes about dysfunctional kitchen workers, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly is a sort of biographical account of Bourdain's cooking career. He talks about how his love for food came about. He takes us on his life journey - from a dishwasher in a seaside joint to an executive chef position in a swanky NYC restaurant. He describes his experiences in failed and successful businesses. Offers practical advice about the industry and food. The morsels of wisdom I am taking away from this book are: don't order specials and don't attend brunch buffets (apparently, both are dumping grounds for old leftovers); don't eat at places with dirty bathrooms; vegetarians are crazy and sickly people who can't be trusted.
As a narrator, Bourdain is very entertaining. He is a no-nonsense, no-holding-back kind of writer, sarcastic and witty and, I assume, quite honest about his exploits. One does start to wonder however if he is laying the bad boy thing a little too thick. It is interesting that in spite of his years-long heroine, cocaine, and alcohol addictions and his bad behavior at work, he not only managed to line one chef job after another in decent places (no McDonald's and Shoney's on his resume) but maintained a marriage as well.
While I thought the book was entertaining, I finished reading it thinking it needed some editing help. First, it is not very well structured, the narration is not cohesive in any shape or form, it reads like a bunch of anecdotes thrown together in no apparent order. The stories of debauchery become repetitive and redundant by the end where I started skipping chapters because none of it was new. Finally, seeing some pictures of people and places Bourdain talks about would have been great too.
Nevertheless, I would recommend this book to all food lovers and especially people who are toying with the idea of becoming restaurateurs or cooks. The author's advice and warnings about the business are sound. I, personally, am convinced not to ever get involved in this business, in any capacity, and will try to continue enjoying food knowing what actually goes on behind the kitchen doors.
Bourdain definitely crushes all preconceived notions we might have about the industry. You remember those foul-mouthed, unkempt, ever-fired-and-hired kitchen workers with shifty pasts you've come across at some points in your life? I thought I simply had a misfortune of working in crappy places, but, apparently, all cooks are exactly like that! There is no such thing as a sophisticated cook, according to Bourdain. In his book, cooks are a dysfunctional lot - drug-addicted, unable to hold a "normal" job, people from the fringes of the society. Actually, Bourdain is one of these people himself. He supports this statement by numerous stories of his drug-, crime- and sex-infused culinary career. As for artistry in cooking, there is none. Cooking is all about mindless, unvarying repetition. Only a few executive chefs in high-end restaurants have a luxury of being creative with the food they make.
Besides the anecdotes about dysfunctional kitchen workers, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly is a sort of biographical account of Bourdain's cooking career. He talks about how his love for food came about. He takes us on his life journey - from a dishwasher in a seaside joint to an executive chef position in a swanky NYC restaurant. He describes his experiences in failed and successful businesses. Offers practical advice about the industry and food. The morsels of wisdom I am taking away from this book are: don't order specials and don't attend brunch buffets (apparently, both are dumping grounds for old leftovers); don't eat at places with dirty bathrooms; vegetarians are crazy and sickly people who can't be trusted.
As a narrator, Bourdain is very entertaining. He is a no-nonsense, no-holding-back kind of writer, sarcastic and witty and, I assume, quite honest about his exploits. One does start to wonder however if he is laying the bad boy thing a little too thick. It is interesting that in spite of his years-long heroine, cocaine, and alcohol addictions and his bad behavior at work, he not only managed to line one chef job after another in decent places (no McDonald's and Shoney's on his resume) but maintained a marriage as well.
While I thought the book was entertaining, I finished reading it thinking it needed some editing help. First, it is not very well structured, the narration is not cohesive in any shape or form, it reads like a bunch of anecdotes thrown together in no apparent order. The stories of debauchery become repetitive and redundant by the end where I started skipping chapters because none of it was new. Finally, seeing some pictures of people and places Bourdain talks about would have been great too.
Nevertheless, I would recommend this book to all food lovers and especially people who are toying with the idea of becoming restaurateurs or cooks. The author's advice and warnings about the business are sound. I, personally, am convinced not to ever get involved in this business, in any capacity, and will try to continue enjoying food knowing what actually goes on behind the kitchen doors.
...
Show More
I am a budding cook, and a pretty subpar one. But I have ambitions. I'm not interested in learning the basics; I'd much rather dive right into the dishes that require blowtorches and shit. That's why I'll never be a great cookerman. I'll have about five or six dishes that I can make that will wow people, but if someone puts five ingredients in front of me, I'll have no idea what combination makes a coherent meal. "Make a white sauce." "Er, what? Is that, like, mayonnaise?" "I need some acidity to tone down this sweetness." **Opens up D-cell battery and pours contents into mixing bowl.**
I want to be a rock star cheffyperson and there's no one who embodies that ideal more than Anthony Bourdain. Sort of. At least, that was my impression at first. He's somewhat of a contradiction. He glamorizes the lifestyle of the restaurant kitchen: the sweat, the blood, the drugs, the trysts in the dry goods room, and most importantly, the $@#%*%&@*@&$&$ing delicious food. But in the next breath, he makes the lifestyle seem like drudgery, the worst of all possible worlds. Megalomaniacal head chefs and managers, the long, grueling hours, the burns, blisters, and knife wounds.
Mostly what I learned is that being an above average cookerfoodmakerperson is dedication. You have to be in the kitchen all the time, you can't let a bloody thumb or sore feet keep you from honing your skills. You need to learn from people who are better than you. Put in your 10,000 hours and you might be able to make something that transcends Mom's pot roast. This is another reason I will never be a great cheffycookiedude.
Bourdain has some good tips for people like me, though, people who want to level their skills up just a little bit. He tells you what kind of knife you should get, what kind of pan is best, and other foodcheffycook things like that.
So if you want to learn about cheffycooks and how to be a good cheffycook, you should read Anthony Bourdain's Kitcheffy Cookydential: Adventures in the Cheffyfoodery Underbelly!!!! Yuuuummmmmmm!!!
I want to be a rock star cheffyperson and there's no one who embodies that ideal more than Anthony Bourdain. Sort of. At least, that was my impression at first. He's somewhat of a contradiction. He glamorizes the lifestyle of the restaurant kitchen: the sweat, the blood, the drugs, the trysts in the dry goods room, and most importantly, the $@#%*%&@*@&$&$ing delicious food. But in the next breath, he makes the lifestyle seem like drudgery, the worst of all possible worlds. Megalomaniacal head chefs and managers, the long, grueling hours, the burns, blisters, and knife wounds.
Mostly what I learned is that being an above average cookerfoodmakerperson is dedication. You have to be in the kitchen all the time, you can't let a bloody thumb or sore feet keep you from honing your skills. You need to learn from people who are better than you. Put in your 10,000 hours and you might be able to make something that transcends Mom's pot roast. This is another reason I will never be a great cheffycookiedude.
Bourdain has some good tips for people like me, though, people who want to level their skills up just a little bit. He tells you what kind of knife you should get, what kind of pan is best, and other foodcheffycook things like that.
So if you want to learn about cheffycooks and how to be a good cheffycook, you should read Anthony Bourdain's Kitcheffy Cookydential: Adventures in the Cheffyfoodery Underbelly!!!! Yuuuummmmmmm!!!
...
Show More
Because the shock of Bourdain’s death has only recently worn off, I find this a difficult book to review. Certainly his larger-than-life manic personality jumps out at you while reading this memoir. Every sentence bore his signature voice in my head. Many chapters shock, delight, disgust and entice the epicurean reader.
I learned more about the restaurant industry from Bourdain than my own chef father taught me. I have a renewed respect for the kitchen crew and wait staff. And I know when to avoid ordering seafood, which knife to spend the big bucks on and why I should reduce my trips to those buffet brunches.
I can only imagine how this book must have impacted all those big (and small) names which Bourdain liberally trashes, gushes, insults and compliments throughout. Oh, Rainbow Room— my one and only high school memory of dining there with pleasure in the 1980s has been changed forever.
A number of chapters reveal the inner workings of the back of the house in detail... so detailed, some readers may find themselves skimming. (What can I say, I didn’t find the endless lists of ingredients nearly as fun to read as all the ways, and in a variety of languages, you can insult your kitchen crew!)
What I will remember is Bourdain’s self-deprecating humor, which in hindsight sounds a lot like self-loathing. And the chapter (near the end) which details one chef’s experience with an employee suicide was almost too close to reality for comfort.
This man loved food and loved sharing the working man’s meals with others. He spent a number of years convincing folks to eat food that is not in their comfort zone. Thanks Mr Bourdain... it turns out that the Vietnamese cold noodle dish I finally tried last week is one of the most yummy dishes I’ve ever eaten.
(Reviewed 7/22/18)
I learned more about the restaurant industry from Bourdain than my own chef father taught me. I have a renewed respect for the kitchen crew and wait staff. And I know when to avoid ordering seafood, which knife to spend the big bucks on and why I should reduce my trips to those buffet brunches.
I can only imagine how this book must have impacted all those big (and small) names which Bourdain liberally trashes, gushes, insults and compliments throughout. Oh, Rainbow Room— my one and only high school memory of dining there with pleasure in the 1980s has been changed forever.
A number of chapters reveal the inner workings of the back of the house in detail... so detailed, some readers may find themselves skimming. (What can I say, I didn’t find the endless lists of ingredients nearly as fun to read as all the ways, and in a variety of languages, you can insult your kitchen crew!)
What I will remember is Bourdain’s self-deprecating humor, which in hindsight sounds a lot like self-loathing. And the chapter (near the end) which details one chef’s experience with an employee suicide was almost too close to reality for comfort.
This man loved food and loved sharing the working man’s meals with others. He spent a number of years convincing folks to eat food that is not in their comfort zone. Thanks Mr Bourdain... it turns out that the Vietnamese cold noodle dish I finally tried last week is one of the most yummy dishes I’ve ever eaten.
(Reviewed 7/22/18)
...
Show More
Oh boy. Where to begin? I found this book - and by extension Anthony Bourdain - somewhat distasteful.
On the surface, it works. Bourdain promises to take you behind the scenes of the restaurant industry, which he certainly does - it's just that he only takes you to very specific restaurant environments that he has worked in and has directly helped shape, a revelation that he only gets to almost three-quarters of the way through the book. All kitchens are chaotic and full of machismo, he says, and the only way to survive them is to fully commit to the culture. But later, he takes the reader to Scott Bryan’s kitchen, where “there are islands of reason and calm, where the pace is steady, where quality always takes precedence over the demands of volume, and where it's not always about dick dick dick.” I was flabbergasted: this passage seemed to negate almost everything that came before it. The restaurant industry is hard and requires a phenomenal amount of work from its chefs, but it apparently does not, as Bourdain tries to say for hundreds of pages, require them to be assholes.
Bourdain's writing is excellent in parts. I loved his descriptions of various restaurants over his long and interesting career, particularly the restaurant run by the mafia. The entire segment about Adam (no last name) who makes the magical bread made me laugh out loud. The sections where he’s relating stories about his coworkers and the New York restaurant scene are great; the personal sections, not so much. The structure of the book is choppy and doesn’t have a linear narrative, which makes it hard to follow the thread of his story. Bourdain seems almost too self-aware to write about himself. He’s too ready to call younger versions of himself an idiot. At first, it seems like he gets it - his younger self really was an idiot - but it slowly becomes apparent that he’s still just as arrogant as before. He’s just learned how to make it sound like he’s learned something.
For me, the most telling anecdote in the book, and the one that I’ll remember, is when Bourdain realizes that, statistically, only one in four heroin addicts gets clean. He’s in a car with three other junkies, and he immediately promises himself that he will be the one to get out alive, no matter what. And he does, and he goes on to write that story - but not the story of his recovery - in this book. And that’s all you need to know about Anthony Bourdain.
On the surface, it works. Bourdain promises to take you behind the scenes of the restaurant industry, which he certainly does - it's just that he only takes you to very specific restaurant environments that he has worked in and has directly helped shape, a revelation that he only gets to almost three-quarters of the way through the book. All kitchens are chaotic and full of machismo, he says, and the only way to survive them is to fully commit to the culture. But later, he takes the reader to Scott Bryan’s kitchen, where “there are islands of reason and calm, where the pace is steady, where quality always takes precedence over the demands of volume, and where it's not always about dick dick dick.” I was flabbergasted: this passage seemed to negate almost everything that came before it. The restaurant industry is hard and requires a phenomenal amount of work from its chefs, but it apparently does not, as Bourdain tries to say for hundreds of pages, require them to be assholes.
Bourdain's writing is excellent in parts. I loved his descriptions of various restaurants over his long and interesting career, particularly the restaurant run by the mafia. The entire segment about Adam (no last name) who makes the magical bread made me laugh out loud. The sections where he’s relating stories about his coworkers and the New York restaurant scene are great; the personal sections, not so much. The structure of the book is choppy and doesn’t have a linear narrative, which makes it hard to follow the thread of his story. Bourdain seems almost too self-aware to write about himself. He’s too ready to call younger versions of himself an idiot. At first, it seems like he gets it - his younger self really was an idiot - but it slowly becomes apparent that he’s still just as arrogant as before. He’s just learned how to make it sound like he’s learned something.
For me, the most telling anecdote in the book, and the one that I’ll remember, is when Bourdain realizes that, statistically, only one in four heroin addicts gets clean. He’s in a car with three other junkies, and he immediately promises himself that he will be the one to get out alive, no matter what. And he does, and he goes on to write that story - but not the story of his recovery - in this book. And that’s all you need to know about Anthony Bourdain.
...
Show More
It's hard to know how to classify "Kitchen Confidential." Memoir? Expose? Humor? Its author Anthony Bourdain is easier to pin down: the hard-drinking, hard-swearing, hard-living executive chef of a New York restaurant who can't write a sentence without being funny, poignant, or offensive, often simultaneously. Bourdain's book ranges freely over his French childhood where he first got obsessed with food, his time at fry-shacks, grill bars, and the Culinary Institute of America which variously taught him to cook, his exceedingly checkered career as chef for a variety of restaurants both doomed and successful, and his observations on the underbelly of the restaurant biz. He can be lyrical and almost tender (his fierce advocacy for the under-appreciated Latinos who make so much of America's three-star cuisine, and get so little recognition) but things really get fun when he lets it rip. Targets for his sarcasm include celebrity chefs who don't actually cook, the Food Network, and restaurants who pretty up leftover Saturday-night crap and package it for $29.99 as Sunday Brunch. Bourdain's macho testosteronal voice would be unbearable if he didn't make just as much fun of himself as he does of everyone else: he recounts stealing from restaurants in his youth, cheating through Chicken Stock class in the Culinary Institute, snorting cocaine on the job, not being able to cook worth a damn compared to his culinary idols, and in general being an asshole. Maybe he is, but he's a funny asshole and he sure can write. You will never order fish on Tuesday again after reading this book, and you will never walk into a restaurant without looking at the kitchen doors and wondering if the crew making your food is the kind of swaggering foul-mouthed unabashedly entertaining batch of borderline outlaws who are depicted so vividly in Bourdain's pages.
...
Show More
Mesmerizing and candid autobiography of the chef. I laughed a lot at some points. Special bonus for author reading it - it's much more personal and immersive that when some guy who didn't see a skillet in his life reads it. It takes a lot to become a chef - long hours, lot of disappointment and pressure. Read it, get familiar with kind of people who is cooking your food in any restaurants - Anthony had it all from cheap hole-in-the-wall to some most expensive ones. I specially like parts when he explains how the kitchen works and what to order and more important to NOT order on specific days of the week. Excellent life story from the guy who unfortunately left us.
...
Show More
n
Oh, Anthony Bourdain. The world lost a great chef and unmatched culinary ambassador the day you died.
Kitchen Confidential is the memoir that originally put Anthony Bourdain on the map. I never got around to reading it when it was first published back in 2000, but I've always been a fan of his, catching his No Reservations and Parts Unknown whenever I had the chance. So it's with no small amount of excitement that I've finally gotten around to his famed memoir.
Reading it for the first time more than two decades later, I can't help but feel as though a ghost has leapt off the pages. His voice is as vibrant as ever, his eye for the delicious and the shocking coming through on every page. To read his words is to experience his view of the world, and it is filled with food, drugs, profanity, and astonishing candor.
If you've ever been curious about how a professional kitchen is run, well, this will satisfy that curiosity. And what's in here is eye-opening, to say the least. Sprinkled with Bourdain's self-deprecating dark humor, it's sure to make you chuckle and cringe in equal measure. After having read this, I'm not sure I'm in a particular hurry to eat out, at least in the types of restaurants he highlights.
What makes Bourdain so special is clearly evident amongst the pages here, even from a book he wrote long ago. He has a way with words, building what would be mundane happenings at the hands of a lesser wordsmith into riveting and scintillating vignettes. And he does this again and again. I couldn't look away.
In particular, his chapter on his first visit to Japan has all the flavors of what would become his trademark later. His unabashed enthusiasm for trying new foods and experiencing new cultures, and his innate understanding that the two are inextricably linked. To read his words is to feel his emotions, and they are tinged with the bittersweet—wonder for new culinary adventures but also sadness for all that he wouldn't have the chance to experience.
I confess I'm a full-blown foodie. I love trying new restaurants, finding new things to eat that I've never had before. That moment, when you take the first bite of a never-before-tried dish and realize you've found a new favorite, it's one of the best feelings in the world. And Anthony Bourdain passionately embodied that. To read about his early days is an honor, and I'm glad I finally got around to it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
✧ Connect with me ✧ Instagram ✧
This was a pick for my Book of the Month box. Get your first book for $5 here.
I'll be right here. Until they drag me off the line. I'm not going anywhere.n
Oh, Anthony Bourdain. The world lost a great chef and unmatched culinary ambassador the day you died.
Kitchen Confidential is the memoir that originally put Anthony Bourdain on the map. I never got around to reading it when it was first published back in 2000, but I've always been a fan of his, catching his No Reservations and Parts Unknown whenever I had the chance. So it's with no small amount of excitement that I've finally gotten around to his famed memoir.
Reading it for the first time more than two decades later, I can't help but feel as though a ghost has leapt off the pages. His voice is as vibrant as ever, his eye for the delicious and the shocking coming through on every page. To read his words is to experience his view of the world, and it is filled with food, drugs, profanity, and astonishing candor.
If you've ever been curious about how a professional kitchen is run, well, this will satisfy that curiosity. And what's in here is eye-opening, to say the least. Sprinkled with Bourdain's self-deprecating dark humor, it's sure to make you chuckle and cringe in equal measure. After having read this, I'm not sure I'm in a particular hurry to eat out, at least in the types of restaurants he highlights.
What makes Bourdain so special is clearly evident amongst the pages here, even from a book he wrote long ago. He has a way with words, building what would be mundane happenings at the hands of a lesser wordsmith into riveting and scintillating vignettes. And he does this again and again. I couldn't look away.
In particular, his chapter on his first visit to Japan has all the flavors of what would become his trademark later. His unabashed enthusiasm for trying new foods and experiencing new cultures, and his innate understanding that the two are inextricably linked. To read his words is to feel his emotions, and they are tinged with the bittersweet—wonder for new culinary adventures but also sadness for all that he wouldn't have the chance to experience.
I confess I'm a full-blown foodie. I love trying new restaurants, finding new things to eat that I've never had before. That moment, when you take the first bite of a never-before-tried dish and realize you've found a new favorite, it's one of the best feelings in the world. And Anthony Bourdain passionately embodied that. To read about his early days is an honor, and I'm glad I finally got around to it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
✧ Connect with me ✧ Instagram ✧
This was a pick for my Book of the Month box. Get your first book for $5 here.
...
Show More
Bullet Review:
Very interesting and startlingly honest - though if Bourdain is anything like this book shows, I doubt I would want to meet him in person and have a beer.
Full Review:
In our culture of reality TV, one of the great things to come out is a renewed interest in food and chefs. Say what you will, but I definitely have enjoyed watching such personalities as Gordon Ramsay and learning what makes a good and bad dining/eating experience.
Anthony Bourdain is such a personality that thrives in our reality TV-addicted culture. He's brusque; he's coarse; he says his mind without any care for civilities; and he knows what he's talking about. This is part memoir, part kitchen handbook for the amateur.
I probably would have never read this had my boss not lent it to me. While I am an admitted watcher of Kitchen Nightmares (but mostly the UK version - the US version is so repetitive and overdramatic!), I have never seen Anthony Bourdain at all. This was basically my first introduction to me.
And with that introduction, while I respect his expertise and admire his candor, I would NOT want to sit down for dinner with him. He sounds like an arrogant, self-important, erm, @$$hole.
But he is brutally honest. With some memoirs, I feel people sugar-coat their lives to make it seem more glamorous; not so with Bourdain. He's pretty damned open about his drug addiction and how "colorful" life in the back of the kitchen is. He isn't going to pretend that kitchen staff don't sexually harass each other or swear constantly. He won't pretend that it's "all about the food" (well...it is...and it's also, for him, about the money). And he even gives some tips and tricks to amateurs wanting to imitate the professional style - even if he does think that's silly (I love it when he admits that, when he's at home, he LIKES having just a good home cooked meal, not an attempt at restaurant glitz and glamour).
This is not one of the best written books I've ever read. The flow was odd, as Bourdain would be relating his biography and then suddenly stop to give tips on what knives to buy. I also think this was better to listen to on audiobook than read, as hearing Bourdain really helped carry the message of the book. But for people who like cooking memoirs, this was a lot of fun. Be warned though - Bourdain has some salty language!
Very interesting and startlingly honest - though if Bourdain is anything like this book shows, I doubt I would want to meet him in person and have a beer.
Full Review:
In our culture of reality TV, one of the great things to come out is a renewed interest in food and chefs. Say what you will, but I definitely have enjoyed watching such personalities as Gordon Ramsay and learning what makes a good and bad dining/eating experience.
Anthony Bourdain is such a personality that thrives in our reality TV-addicted culture. He's brusque; he's coarse; he says his mind without any care for civilities; and he knows what he's talking about. This is part memoir, part kitchen handbook for the amateur.
I probably would have never read this had my boss not lent it to me. While I am an admitted watcher of Kitchen Nightmares (but mostly the UK version - the US version is so repetitive and overdramatic!), I have never seen Anthony Bourdain at all. This was basically my first introduction to me.
And with that introduction, while I respect his expertise and admire his candor, I would NOT want to sit down for dinner with him. He sounds like an arrogant, self-important, erm, @$$hole.
But he is brutally honest. With some memoirs, I feel people sugar-coat their lives to make it seem more glamorous; not so with Bourdain. He's pretty damned open about his drug addiction and how "colorful" life in the back of the kitchen is. He isn't going to pretend that kitchen staff don't sexually harass each other or swear constantly. He won't pretend that it's "all about the food" (well...it is...and it's also, for him, about the money). And he even gives some tips and tricks to amateurs wanting to imitate the professional style - even if he does think that's silly (I love it when he admits that, when he's at home, he LIKES having just a good home cooked meal, not an attempt at restaurant glitz and glamour).
This is not one of the best written books I've ever read. The flow was odd, as Bourdain would be relating his biography and then suddenly stop to give tips on what knives to buy. I also think this was better to listen to on audiobook than read, as hearing Bourdain really helped carry the message of the book. But for people who like cooking memoirs, this was a lot of fun. Be warned though - Bourdain has some salty language!
...
Show More
"I don't know, you see, how a normal person acts. I don't know how to behave outside my kitchen. I don't know the rules. I'm aware of them, sure, but I don't care to observe them anymore because I haven't had to for so many years. Okay, I can put on a jacket, go out for dinner and a movie, and I can eat with a knife and fork without embarrassing my hosts. But can I really behave? I don't know."
I can't explain why it's taken me this long—nearly 20 years since it was published—to read Anthony Bourdain's n Kitchen Confidentialn. Having attended culinary school, I'm fairly obsessed with all things cooking-related, and consider myself to be a bit of a foodie. I was also an enormous Bourdain fan, religiously watching his television appearances and loving his take-no-prisoners philosophy when it came to adventurous eating (not something we shared, per se). Yet only now, in the few months since his shocking suicide, did I sit down to read his nearly 20-year-old look at his journey to executive chef, the knowledge he gained and the trouble he stepped into, time after time.
While certainly it's a little eerie (and a little sad) to read a memoir by someone who subsequently dies, that didn't spoil my enjoyment of this terrific, brash, funny, and at times introspective, book. Bourdain was a natural storyteller—not only did he use food to tell the stories he (and his bosses) wanted to create, but he also loved to talk about the ways the culinary world has changed through the years, how what restaurants serve (and what people eat) has changed, and how the role of the chef has changed with it.
Unlike many memoirs, Bourdain was never afraid to admit his flaws, his transgressions, his pet peeves, all of which served to make him more human and make his story more compelling. I loved everything about this book—from his days of being a cocky young man thinking he knew more (and could do more) than those who had been cooking for years, to his struggles to find the chef's job in a restaurant where he felt he belonged for more than a few weeks. He doesn't skimp on his addictions to cocaine, heroin, and whatever else he could find, and he was candid about how those problems nearly ruined his life and his career.
While there are moments of vulnerability, there are more moments of humor, mischief, and tons of information about the life of a chef (at least in 2000), and why some restaurants and chefs succeed while others fail. The infamous chapter, "From Our Kitchen to Your Table," in which he warns of some restaurant tricks to get rid of older food (although not all of the things he discusses are still true today), is terrific, if not a little bit disturbing. How can you not love a book in which the author says, "Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter-faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living." (I guess if you're a vegetarian or vegan, you might take umbrage...)
I love Bourdain's writing style, so I'll definitely be picking up some of the other books he wrote. Even if you're not an aspiring chef or a foodie or even a home cook, you may enjoy this simply for the pleasure of hearing his words, which are so vivid you probably can imagine him reading them to you. It's a great book for cooking pros and novices alike.
Sure, reading n Kitchen Confidentialn made me sad as I realized once again the magnitude of Bourdain's loss. But I'm also so happy he left such a rich legacy, in print, on television, and of course, in food.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com, or check out my list of the best books I read in 2017 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2017.html.
I can't explain why it's taken me this long—nearly 20 years since it was published—to read Anthony Bourdain's n Kitchen Confidentialn. Having attended culinary school, I'm fairly obsessed with all things cooking-related, and consider myself to be a bit of a foodie. I was also an enormous Bourdain fan, religiously watching his television appearances and loving his take-no-prisoners philosophy when it came to adventurous eating (not something we shared, per se). Yet only now, in the few months since his shocking suicide, did I sit down to read his nearly 20-year-old look at his journey to executive chef, the knowledge he gained and the trouble he stepped into, time after time.
While certainly it's a little eerie (and a little sad) to read a memoir by someone who subsequently dies, that didn't spoil my enjoyment of this terrific, brash, funny, and at times introspective, book. Bourdain was a natural storyteller—not only did he use food to tell the stories he (and his bosses) wanted to create, but he also loved to talk about the ways the culinary world has changed through the years, how what restaurants serve (and what people eat) has changed, and how the role of the chef has changed with it.
Unlike many memoirs, Bourdain was never afraid to admit his flaws, his transgressions, his pet peeves, all of which served to make him more human and make his story more compelling. I loved everything about this book—from his days of being a cocky young man thinking he knew more (and could do more) than those who had been cooking for years, to his struggles to find the chef's job in a restaurant where he felt he belonged for more than a few weeks. He doesn't skimp on his addictions to cocaine, heroin, and whatever else he could find, and he was candid about how those problems nearly ruined his life and his career.
While there are moments of vulnerability, there are more moments of humor, mischief, and tons of information about the life of a chef (at least in 2000), and why some restaurants and chefs succeed while others fail. The infamous chapter, "From Our Kitchen to Your Table," in which he warns of some restaurant tricks to get rid of older food (although not all of the things he discusses are still true today), is terrific, if not a little bit disturbing. How can you not love a book in which the author says, "Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter-faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living." (I guess if you're a vegetarian or vegan, you might take umbrage...)
I love Bourdain's writing style, so I'll definitely be picking up some of the other books he wrote. Even if you're not an aspiring chef or a foodie or even a home cook, you may enjoy this simply for the pleasure of hearing his words, which are so vivid you probably can imagine him reading them to you. It's a great book for cooking pros and novices alike.
Sure, reading n Kitchen Confidentialn made me sad as I realized once again the magnitude of Bourdain's loss. But I'm also so happy he left such a rich legacy, in print, on television, and of course, in food.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com, or check out my list of the best books I read in 2017 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2017.html.
...
Show More
This book would be an ideal choice for a fraternity's monthly book club. I do not mean that as a 100% insult--maybe a 60% insult. What I mean is that a lot of the plot points do not exist for any other reason than to emphasize how bro-y the restaurant industry is (see: rando bride getting banged in the storeroom by a chef).
I did not purchase this book. It was a free audiobook, and I started listening to it on drives to and from Austin and work. It is 35% mildly entertaining, 15% very entertaining, and 50% boring or worse. Maybe I am just irritated by Anthony Bourdain's wiseass voice yelling at me from my speakers. Maybe if I read it the old-fashioned way, I would like it more because my own voice does not yell at me in such a macho way.
Anthony Bourdain is an interesting enough person. The writing style is sometimes funny and intriguing. He gives good advice about knives at one point. But after a few hours, his voice feels like patriarchy rubbing a cheese grater against your ear.
I did not purchase this book. It was a free audiobook, and I started listening to it on drives to and from Austin and work. It is 35% mildly entertaining, 15% very entertaining, and 50% boring or worse. Maybe I am just irritated by Anthony Bourdain's wiseass voice yelling at me from my speakers. Maybe if I read it the old-fashioned way, I would like it more because my own voice does not yell at me in such a macho way.
Anthony Bourdain is an interesting enough person. The writing style is sometimes funny and intriguing. He gives good advice about knives at one point. But after a few hours, his voice feels like patriarchy rubbing a cheese grater against your ear.
...
Show More
3 stars
Gritty, grungy and foul mouthed. That was Anthony Bourdain. This book reads like pornography - not about sex - but about food.
I think overall the thing I took away from this book was regret. I heard it in Bourdain's voice, I heard it in his choice of words and he also stated that he had some regrets.
I listened to the audio of this book. That in itself was strange. This book came out in 2000, and Bourdain committed suicide by hanging himself in France in 2018. So to hear this book narrated by him gave me mixed feelings. Sorrow for the loss yet, I think, a better understanding of the man himself.
It took a minute to catch up to Bourdain. He chatters in this audio 900 miles an hour. I assume that that was his normal speech pattern. Once I caught on to that, I settled in to hear his story. I don't believe that Bourdain was ever really happy. He admits that he did not start his career for the best of reasons. He came from money, yet that seems to be what he always chased. Chased, to the point of not really caring about learning his craft. Instead money was his motivator - so he went from job to job looking for that next paycheck.
Bourdain worked in some very nice places, for some very good money, but he was never happier than when he was working in a grungy dump. He then felt that he was good enough - respected enough - liked enough - to call himself Chef.
I now see Bourdain as a vagabond, who floated about without any certain direction, using his craft as a means to continue his drug and alcohol habits, trying to find substance in his life, however not really finding it. He was given many chances, he opened many doors for himself, yet he was still unable to find what he was looking for. Such a talented man, lost to the himself, and the world.
Gritty, grungy and foul mouthed. That was Anthony Bourdain. This book reads like pornography - not about sex - but about food.
I think overall the thing I took away from this book was regret. I heard it in Bourdain's voice, I heard it in his choice of words and he also stated that he had some regrets.
I listened to the audio of this book. That in itself was strange. This book came out in 2000, and Bourdain committed suicide by hanging himself in France in 2018. So to hear this book narrated by him gave me mixed feelings. Sorrow for the loss yet, I think, a better understanding of the man himself.
It took a minute to catch up to Bourdain. He chatters in this audio 900 miles an hour. I assume that that was his normal speech pattern. Once I caught on to that, I settled in to hear his story. I don't believe that Bourdain was ever really happy. He admits that he did not start his career for the best of reasons. He came from money, yet that seems to be what he always chased. Chased, to the point of not really caring about learning his craft. Instead money was his motivator - so he went from job to job looking for that next paycheck.
Bourdain worked in some very nice places, for some very good money, but he was never happier than when he was working in a grungy dump. He then felt that he was good enough - respected enough - liked enough - to call himself Chef.
I now see Bourdain as a vagabond, who floated about without any certain direction, using his craft as a means to continue his drug and alcohol habits, trying to find substance in his life, however not really finding it. He was given many chances, he opened many doors for himself, yet he was still unable to find what he was looking for. Such a talented man, lost to the himself, and the world.
Leave a Review