The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones

In the preface, Anthony Bourdain starts a sentence, "When I look back on the last five years since I wrote the obnoxious, ever-testosteroned memoir..." He's talking about Kitchen Confidential and the implication of the sentence is that the former book could be described that way, but this one...

Snort! This is a full sibling, replete with boasts of scars and burns, swagger about meals physically painful to eat, bluster about the criminal tendencies of co-workers, brags about oral sex from servers, gloating about the Herculean marathons of drink and food that would stun mere mortals, and sheer macho exultation about "getting it done" in an overworked kitchen when the whole evening gets in the weeds. There's enough testosterone in this to show more power a pro sports team's steroid collection.

But, for all that, there is also an undisguised love of food and food adventure that takes over the memoir and makes it simply fun to read.

If you've read KC, you know what you're getting. If you haven't, but think you might enjoy some uninhibited recollections about eating well all around the world, then give this a try. show less

This was an excellent reading experience. If you have read Bourdain before, then you know what you are getting. If not, this book makes an excellent entry point into his writing. He writes in a direct, honest style; he is very conversational. The work reads as if he was there sitting with you telling all those stories of places visited around the world, cooks and chefs he has met, and what he has learned along the way. He has a good eye for detail, and his descriptions just make you long to be there, wherever there happens to be. This is a collection of his short works, organized in broad themes ("bitter," "sweet" etc.). So you can read it through, or you can pick and choose. This book will make you want to travel, and it certainly will show more make you want to seek out some better food fare at the closest hole in the wall place you can find.

Some of the passages I enjoyed include: his look at the celebrity chef phenomenon, the story of the celebrity chef he would like to see (very unlike anything on TV), the story of cook Hamilton (the hardcore cook), eating in China where "everybody pays tomorrow" but they come back anyways the next day (my kind of food, hehe), oh, and reading about Chef Ferra was also very cool. But he also expresses other opinions such as on caning in Singapore (which is a great foodie place, by the way). He has a small piece on how to behave in restaurants that I think should be mandatory reading for anyone who needs to learn some basic manners. In the end, Bourdain combines passion with open mindedness and, this I admire, a respect for the cultures and places he visits that I find moving, interesting, entertaining, and informational; I feel I learned a lot just from this book about all sorts of places. By the way, he also includes a sampling of his fiction (I did not know he wrote fiction; nice, but I like his nonfiction better), and at the end, there are some commentaries on some of the essays. These small commentaries are kind of like the extras on a DVD, giving some further insights. This is a book I highly recommend. To those readers who have gentle dispositions, Bourdain does use some language here and there, but don't let that deter you. This is definitely a book worth reading. show less

This book is a collection of previously published articles, written for a variety of magazines, from Gourmet to some (unnamed) British travel mag. If you've watched any of Bourdain's TV series, or read any of his previous books, you already have a sense of what this is like. Bourdain has a consistent voice and attitude (sarcastic working-class New Yorker), and as expected, brings it here to bear, for the most part, on food, travel, and the restaurant trade.

The collection is a bit uneven, but nothing's really bad, and some of the articles are just wonderful. My favorite might be the homage to Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas that describes the filming, with Michael Ruhlmann, of his _No Reservations_ episode in Las Vegas. Another treat is show more the final item in the book, a short piece of Christmas fiction that is uncharacteristically sweet, hopeful, unsarcastic, and utterly sincere. It's the first piece of his fiction that I've read, but I liked it enough that I want to dig up his novels. show less

Caveat Emptor first: Anthony Bourdain is not for everyone. He is not Jeffry Steingarten, or any of the refined sophisticated cabal of food writers currently residing in our earth. What he is, is a damned good writer and an opinionated savant. He can use a much better filter between his brain and typing hands but then again, I enjoy the type of unadulterated and judgmental writing that he does.

Equivalently, this book is not for everyone. I love it because he gets into some really interesting situation in some really interesting places and he isn't afraid to tell you about it, warts and all.

This book is a collection of articles that he had written for various magazines. The unevenness of the writing is driven by his presumed audience, show more although I have a hard time believing that Gourmet magazine would actually take the chance of hiring him to wrte for them, they did. Even with his self editing, the true Bourdain wit and cynicism comes through loud and clear. I have always been a believer in the idea that a true cynic is one who is also a die hard perfectionist, a hard core believer in absolutes. The Nasty Bits is a good illustration of this, in covering all the different topics for his magazine masters, Bourdain manages to be cynical and yet through his cynicism show his true color as a food purist, someone who is a traditionalist at heart, which is what fuels his cynicism for the trendy. He has seen it all and he won't fall for the unsubstantial and stylish. All of the essays in the book have that particular tone to them. He effuses enthousiastically about things that he likes and he is a bastard about things that he feels are hopelessly and unadulterated BS. He does not hold back in his praise nor in his scorn. He will give you the straight dope as he sees it.

In a way, this book is an update of Kitchen Confidential since Bourdain no longer works as a chef, so this is the only way he can talk about his experiences since Kitchen Confidential and not delve into more of the inner workings of a restaurant. In another way this is also a report card on how Bourdain has grown as a Chowhound. Note that I call him a Chowhound rather than a foodie. The difference is that foodies are pains in the neck and are interested in food for the sake of status. Chowhounds just like to eat. Bourdain is a Chowhound and he uses his celebrity to expand his culinary horizon and you can feel his growth with every bite he takes around the world.

The last chapter, a chapter of commentaries on the rest of the book is quite illuminating. He gets his chance to make his mea culpas and gives himself a chance to back off of some of the comments. He doesn't actually back off of too terribly much. He does show remarkable maturity in flagellating himself on the times where he was hasty in judgement and erroneous in his conclusions. I was particularly glad to see him experience the wonders of eating in Asia and Brasil. The down side to this book is that I always end up hungry as I pour through the narrative. Must be some kind of food industry conspiracy. show less

I adored this book from beginning to end. I'm not normally one for literally laughing out loud while reading, but I earned more than one nasty look from my husband when my laughter woke him up. Humor aside, Bourdain's language is endlessly varied, and his love of food is everywhere apparent. I never knew offal could sound so delicious!

First let me be clear that my opinion about anything Anthony Bourdain is biased.I love his travel-cooking shows and will fight to control the remote,even to see the reruns.So as I read the book I "heard" the familiar cadence and tenor of his voice. What was new was the repeating theme,that if you've never worked the back of the house then you don't belong to the family.Admission is open to all whose DNA thrives in the thermal-emotional heat.There's no discrimination based on skin color,creed,sex or country of origin,only if the quality of your skin is too thin. He makes the point that you can pay for top dollar for the best table in the front of the house but the good food is in the back at the family table.That culinary decadence has show more evolved at the hands of imaginative cooks who made do with adversity to make the best lemonade. show less

I love Anthony Bourdain, so I was disappointed not to love this book. A compendium of his magazine and newspaper articles, it offers little insight to anyone familiar with his show. This alone wouldn't have deterred me since his writing is great, but since each piece is only three to five pages long, the overall effect is choppy and unabsorbing. This would best be read one selection at a time, perhaps before bed or in the bathroom, but even then the similarity of the pieces might get boring.