Kitchen Confidential : : Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

Locations
Call Number: 921 Bourdain, Anthony, Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / Musicians & Entertainers / Bourdain, Anthony
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Pittsfield Branch

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Great Day by Day Breakdown of a Chef submitted by Sara W on June 21, 2011, 9:19am liked the hour-by-hour breakdown of the life of a chef that Bourdain gives more than I liked his step-by-step recap of being a punk kid doing drugs on the shore and gradually becoming a chef. But I think it rounded out the story, that even talented people who graduate from the Culinary Institute of America don't just fall into places like Les Halles.

It was a fast read - Bourdain doesn't mince words or take things slow. Not that I know from experience - at all - but this has to be an honest and frank take on the back-end of a restaurant. Bourdain doesn't seem like he has a lot of artifice in him. I liked the contrast he developed by taking the readers into another chef's kitchen and I thought it further showed that he wasn't afraid of honesty and that he was earnestly trying to give a clear picture of the industry and the lifestyle.

Very mixed feelings about this one submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on July 23, 2017, 4:06pm This is a hard book for me to rate. Bourdain is an outstanding storyteller. Listen to this: "A few months back, in a moment of admittedly misguided solidarity with my heavily decorated kitchen crew, I got a tattoo, a reasonably tasteful headhunter's band around my upper arm. Nancy (his wife), however, was on record as finding skin art about as attractive as ringworm; she took it, not unreasonably, as a personal affront." He tells a down to earth story, and he tells it really well. The friend who recommended this to me loved everything about this book.

But (and you knew that was coming)...
First, the first half- to two-thirds of the book could have alternately been titled "Drugs! My Crazy Addicted Life while Working in Kitchens." As a social worker, I've read a lot of books by addicts/recovering addicts, and most of this book (for me) was just another one.

Second, the level of verbal and occasionally physical violence in his stories is obscene. To be clear: I don't mind reading foul language. I understand that if he's recounting stories of particular kitchens at particular times, he'll be recounting the language and actions of that place too. That's fine. But his level of *acceptance* of this violence doesn't work for me.

When he was a lowly grunt in one kitchen, a sous-chef (I think) would grab his butt when walking by. And not just pat it, or simply grab it. Bourdain decided it was time to act when he though the guy was getting close to ACTUAL ANAL PENETRATION. And no one thought anything of it. (Bourdain's recourse the next time it happened was to step quickly aside and hold out a two-tined fork, which the guy impaled his own hand on. The rest of the kitchen crew finally started to accept him.)

Ah, you say, but that was then, and he was lowest on the totem pole. Now he has his own kitchen. Riiiiight. Page 221-22: "That's just the way it is. I call down to my prep kitchen on the intercom... and that little gangster... is going to reply (when I'm out of hearing), "F**** YOUUUU!" before giving me exactly what I asked for. Better I say it first: "Gimme my f***ing mantequilla and sauce, m*th*rf***er. Ahorita... and ... f****ck YOU!"

No, not better that you say it first. You set the stage. It doesn't have to be that way, and especially as the chef, you can change it. When one of your guys pins a waiter to the prep counter to dry-hump him "and he doesn't look like he likes it" YOU CAN CHANGE IT! You're saying people need to be tough to work in a kitchen, fine. But it's the work that matters, not whether you know enough "dick jokes."

So the book is an interesting (if drug-infested) look into the inner workings of professional kitchens, and it's really well told. But Bourdain's perspective leaves a lot to be desired. (PS. Apparently in Bourdain's other writings, he admitted that he exaggerated about as much as one can and still call this book nonfiction.)

Your Restaurant Experience Will Never Be the Same submitted by sVfGI7Glt2pz7GZgVB90 on August 23, 2020, 9:39am This culinary tell-all will leave you gratified, flinching, and starving for more. Bourdain gives readers an uncensored (rats and all) look into his rise to fame and work at some of the world's most well-known kitchens while adding a biting edge that characterizes Kitchen Confidential from other foodie works.