Scan barcode
A review by leahtylerthewriter
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (Updated Edition) by Anthony Bourdain
5.0
"I frequently look back at my life, searching for that fork in the road, trying to figure out where, exactly, I went bad and became a thrill-seeking, pleasure-hungry sensualist, always looking to shock, amuse, terrify and manipulate, seeking to fill that empty spot in my soul with something new."
A New York chef spills the tea on the guts and gore of the culinary industry while divulging the flaws and motivations driving him.
I'm a fangirl who was going to love this book regardless. So why did it surprise me to discover it was exceptionally well written? Bourdain's ability to wrap up bad behavior in intelligent analysis and offensive humor is, undoubtedly, what launched his TV career and caused the world to fall in love with him. At least I sure did.
This exposé spares no one. Not Anthony himself, a "dangerously unstable and profane rat-bastard" who in his youth "treated the world as my ashtray." Not the bevy of unsavory restaurateurs he worked for, the fact that you should only order fish on Tuesdays and Thursdays, skip the bacteria-breeding hollandaise, realize the bread has been on a multi-table tour before landing on yours, and never order your meat well done. Not because of snobbery, but because of the ability to hide poor quality behind char. Because even though "your body is not a temple, it's an amusement park" the reality of what goes on in fine-dining kitchens will shock the unindoctrinated and terrify the naïve.
But there's so much more. Wrapped up in this gut-churning tell-all is the heart of a vulnerable and honest human who isn't afraid to look life plain in the face and call it for what it is: a delusional and twisted experiment. From that first oyster in the 4th grade that sent him chasing experiences for the rest of his life, always wanting, always searching for more, to the day he "transformed from a bright but druggy fuck-up into a serious, capable and responsible chef," Bourdain owns his shit.
Friday would've been his 65th birthday. He gave a lot of himself and left behind a body of work allowing us access to the essence of who he was. "It's been an adventure. We took some casualties over the years. Things got broken. Things got lost. But I wouldn't have missed it for the world." Neither would I, Tony. RIP.
A New York chef spills the tea on the guts and gore of the culinary industry while divulging the flaws and motivations driving him.
I'm a fangirl who was going to love this book regardless. So why did it surprise me to discover it was exceptionally well written? Bourdain's ability to wrap up bad behavior in intelligent analysis and offensive humor is, undoubtedly, what launched his TV career and caused the world to fall in love with him. At least I sure did.
This exposé spares no one. Not Anthony himself, a "dangerously unstable and profane rat-bastard" who in his youth "treated the world as my ashtray." Not the bevy of unsavory restaurateurs he worked for, the fact that you should only order fish on Tuesdays and Thursdays, skip the bacteria-breeding hollandaise, realize the bread has been on a multi-table tour before landing on yours, and never order your meat well done. Not because of snobbery, but because of the ability to hide poor quality behind char. Because even though "your body is not a temple, it's an amusement park" the reality of what goes on in fine-dining kitchens will shock the unindoctrinated and terrify the naïve.
But there's so much more. Wrapped up in this gut-churning tell-all is the heart of a vulnerable and honest human who isn't afraid to look life plain in the face and call it for what it is: a delusional and twisted experiment. From that first oyster in the 4th grade that sent him chasing experiences for the rest of his life, always wanting, always searching for more, to the day he "transformed from a bright but druggy fuck-up into a serious, capable and responsible chef," Bourdain owns his shit.
Friday would've been his 65th birthday. He gave a lot of himself and left behind a body of work allowing us access to the essence of who he was. "It's been an adventure. We took some casualties over the years. Things got broken. Things got lost. But I wouldn't have missed it for the world." Neither would I, Tony. RIP.