Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Author : Anthony Bourdain
Title : Kitchen Confidential
Published : 2000
Publisher : Bloomsbury Paperbacks
Pages : 384
Genre : Autobiography

     Regarded as a modern classic of behind-the-scenes memoir and contemporary food writing, Kitchen Confidential is Anthony Bourdain's uncensored 'sex, drugs, bad behavior and haute cuisine' account of life as a professional chef. From his first oyster in the Gironde to his lowly position as a dishwasher in a honky-tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown; from the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop the 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, as shocking as they are funny.

     By the time I came to know who Anthony Bourdain was sadly he had already taken his own life. It was only by chance one night while scrolling through Netflix looking for something to watch that I came across Parts Unknown. It only took a couple of episodes to become hooked on it. A heady mix of cooking, travel and political viewpoint. Bourdain  Came across as someone who genuinely loved food and cooking, unlike many celebrity chefs who seem to want to flog you there latest cookbook or product with there face splashed across it he seemed to want to educate his viewers on food in all its many glorious forms.  So having finished every episode there was on Netflix I went looking for more and that is how I came across this book. 

     This book strips back any grand notion you may have about the food industry, He lays bare what it is truly like to work long hours with little to no thanks for your efforts. For most of us, we only see the end results when we choose to dine out. And to be fair why would we, we enjoy the subtle flavors or strong hitting spices with little regard for the work that has gone into making it. And this is the world that Bourdain shines a light on, his world for better or worse. Through his words, we get to follow his journey from a hopeless drop out to someone who found his calling and become a name known around the world. I guess in part down to this very book which carried his name into the homes of so many people. For me, part of the greatness of this book is that at no point does he try and dumb it down for the reader. As he says himself he refuses to change the terminology used in every kitchen across the globe. I like that he, in fact, did not write it for the everyday person but instead for his fellows who work in the food industry. Too often too often with autobiography's the author is trying to reach the biggest radiance possible. And you can't really blame them for this they are after all chasing that almighty dollar right?   Which in part makes this book really stand out for me. 

     The book kind of works in two ways, first you get to learn his story a mix of coming of age and funny and at times downright dangerous anecdote. In amongst these are plenty of reasons to laugh and not only the stupidity but also how groups of people band together under the most stressful of situations. He also does his best to educate those foolhardy enough to want to follow in his footsteps and become a professional chef. Here he gives his no B.S views on some of the do's and don'ts and also what equipment you are going to need to follow your dreams. All of this is wrapped up in his usual form of at times bleak view of the world but also this dry sarcastic humor I have found in very few Americans.  If you have not had the pleasure of seeing any of his shows I would point out that the man likes to swear like a sailor. Now for me, this was never really a problem, I am all too familiar with swearing in its many forms and in multiple languages. But I figured a warning may be in order. 

     As you can tell this was a book I greatly enjoyed, it was great to get behind the guise of the famous celebrity chef. It is always interesting to me to match up the public persona with that of the lives these people have lived to get there. And to his credit, while not proud of some of the lows in his life he does not shy away from the dark in his life. After finishing this I felt I had a better understanding of who he was. While things may have changed a lot in the world of the kitchen he shows us a brief moment in time from the being of the eights to the late nineties, and for me was both captivating and a little horrifying.