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Loading... Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbellyby Anthony Bourdain
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I'm sad I waited until after his death to read this wonderful culinary memoir. I was hooked from page one, this was an amazing and impossible to put down book. Bourdain pulls back the curtain on what is really happening in kitchens and it's fascinating, scary, and very exciting. It's not all fun and games, it takes dedication, thick skin (physically and emotionally), endurance, and skill. Filled not only with his journey into the culinary belly of the world, this memoir also dishes on what days to order meats and seafoods, how to tell if a restaurant deserves your business and many other useful tidbits that I would never have known in a million years. He is also very real about his vices, addictions, and drugs found in virtually all restaurants of the world. Superbly written, witty, and engaging this memoir is not just for foodies, it's for everyone. Sad we lost such a great personality, but his voice will live on through his books and on his shows. I've never seen an Anthony Bourdain TV show, and when he died by suicide in 2018 I had only the vaguest notion that he was a chef of some sort. I bought this book because my son is a cook, apprenticing to become a chef, and I thought it would be interesting to read about life in a restaurant kitchen, a traditionally male-dominated workplace where the insults, sexism, racism, and homophobia never stop, but neither do the employees. Getting sick is a no-no. Working overtime - way overtime is a necessity, even if it means sleeping in the restaurant overnight. All this I knew, and Bourdain filled me in more, about the prevalance of drugs in the kitchen in the 1970s, about the absolutely loyalty to one's chef that is required, about the manic workaholism that is needed to rise to the top of the profession. I learned about the controlled chaos that is a kitchen, about the enormous food orders made and the necessity of getting your suppliers to like you, about why you should never order fish on a Monday, and about exhaustion, addiction, and a deep love of food. Yes, the book was instructive, but I didn't like it very much. The main problem is that I didn't like Anthony Bourdain, which makes liking a book by and about him very difficult. I found him a blowhard, proud of his scuzzy past, not above any con scheme, and a braggart to boot. I've never seen anyone so proud of quitting restaurant after restaurant, about his drug-addled life, about never seeing his wife because he was too busy with work, and so self-important. I was disgusted with the man. The book was decent and I learned a few things, but overall I wouldn't recommend it. Full Review:https://wanderinglectiophile.wordpress.com/2018/06/13/review-kitchen-confidential-adventures-in-the-culinary-underbelly-by-anthony-bourdain/ I became familiar with Anthony Bourdain's career through his television shows No Reservations, Parts Unknown, and The Layover. In my humble opinion, they were easily the most entertaining travel related programming I've ever seen on television. He had a way of showing his viewers the beauty to be seen in all the world, and it made me want to visit each and every place I saw him explore - regardless of how insignificant the destination may be have seemed. He made them significant. Since his travel shows were how I came to follow him, I knew very little about his career in the culinary industry and figured that since he was a person of interest to me, I'd pick up one of his books and dive in. Before I opened this book I knew to expect a few things with certainty. One, Anthony would at time be crude or offensive with his stories, but that they would be honest, open, and candidly retold. Two, having worked at a number of restaurants myself, that I would find that the assumptions I had made about those kitchen crews would not be unfounded. And three, there would be some really good stories and insights to be found about the culinary industry. Kitchen Confidential did not disappoint. There were tales that were hilarious, tales that were revolting, and tales that I found myself going "yeah, I can see that". Tales of sex, drugs, recklessness, and self-discovery, culinary tidbits, equipment and tool recommendations, and insights into the lives of those cooking your meals when you go out to eat. I feel like he gave his readers a wide variety of anecdotes and insights to the culinary trade. Perhaps a bit crassly, but frankly, I prefer a crass rendition of the facts to a polished and pretty lie rooted in truth. What I didn't expect was the writing. OH. MUH. GOSH. I wish I could write like him! If you've ever watched one of his travel programs, he always opens each destination with some sort of descriptive, anecdotal monologue where he introduces his viewers to the culture and sights to be seen in the most unique and fascinating ways. The stories in this book are written in much the same way. Some how that man manages to combine analogies, metaphors, phrases, and idioms effortlessly to describe the scenes and events that took place. ...that sounds like it would be muddy and hard to follow, but it's not. The descriptions and ways he explained something was very concise and relatable - even if you aren't a chef or into travel. It left me going "wow, I would have never thought to put it that way, but damn it's a good way to put it." He also didn't repeat phrases, which is impressive if you're going to describe events or situations in his way. I think I'd give a toe to be able to write like this.... It's certainly a unique style of writing and one I wish I could emulate. If you've ever watched his programing, or perhaps you're just interested in him after the announcement of his death in the news, it's a good expose on who he was as well as the culinary industry. Just be prepared for his way of telling you everything - the good, the bad, the iffy - all of it.
This is one bitter, nasty, searing, hard-to-swallow piece of work. But if you can choke the thing down, youll (sic) probably wake up grinning in the middle of the night. Bourdain is a force of unruly nature, a lifelong misanthrope and currently the executive chef at the Brasserie Les Halles, whose clientele, now that this book is out, must be accounted among the more courageous diners in New York. Belongs to Publisher SeriesIs contained inHas the adaptationHas as a student's study guide
Biography & Autobiography.
Cooking & Food.
Essays.
Nonfiction.
HTML:Anthony Bourdain, host of Parts Unknown, reveals "twenty-five years of sex, drugs, bad behavior and haute cuisine" in his breakout New York Times bestseller Kitchen Confidential. Bourdain spares no one's appetite when he told all about what happens behind the kitchen door. Bourdain uses the same "take-no-prisoners" attitude in his deliciously funny and shockingly delectable book, sure to delight gourmands and philistines alike. From Bourdain's first oyster in the Gironde, to his lowly position as dishwasher in a honky tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown (where he witnesses for the first time the real delights of being a chef); from the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center, to drug dealers in the east village, from Tokyo to Paris and back to New York again, Bourdain's tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable. Kitchen Confidential will make your mouth water while your belly aches with laughter. You'll beg the chef for more, please. No library descriptions found. |
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And he doesn't shy away from the fact that nothing he says is true of every chef, but only true of his experience, though many others have shared similar experiences to him. "You wrote my life, man," is commonly said to him, as he notes in the afterword.
Perhaps most importantly is - shocker! - the food. Bourdain's knowledge and sheer love of food leaks out of the book at the slightest glance, like a ribeye oozing onto the plate, like béarnaise trickling down the side of a T-bone, like peanut oil dripping from a basket of fries fresh out of the fryer. The reader can't help but be sucked into the enjoyment with him, even acknowledging his love for things that the reader hates.
For any chef, or sous, or garde-manger, or anybody else who's done their time as a culinary jailbird, this will be a five-star read. For me, as someone who has no experience in that world, I will enthusiastically recommend this book to the people I know who have lived that life. Four stars.
Rest in peace, Mr. Bourdain. ( )