Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

Home. You are here: Books / Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

Editorial Review

A deliciously funny, delectably shocking banquet of wild-but-true tales of life in the culinary trade from Chef Anthony Bourdain, laying out his more than a quarter-century of drugs, sex, and haute cuisine--now with all-new, never-before-published material

Most diners believe that their sublime sliver of seared foie gras, topped with an ethereal buckwheat blini and a drizzle of piquant huckleberry sauce, was created by a culinary artist of the highest order, a sensitive, highly refined executive chef. The truth is more brutal. More likely, writes Anthony Bourdain in Kitchen Confidential, that elegant three-star concoction is the collaborative effort of a team of "wacked-out moral degenerates, dope fiends, refugees, a thuggish assortment of drunks, sneak thieves, sluts, and psychopaths," in all likelihood pierced or tattooed and incapable of uttering a sentence without an expletive or a foreign phrase. Such is the muscular view of the culinary trenches from one who's been groveling in them, with obvious sadomasochistic pleasure, for more than 20 years. CIA-trained Bourdain, currently the executive chef of the celebrated Les Halles, wrote two culinary mysteries before his first (and infamous) New Yorker essay launched this frank confessional about the lusty and larcenous real lives of cooks and restaurateurs. He is obscenely eloquent, unapologetically opinionated, and a damn fine storyteller--a Jack Kerouac of the kitchen. Those without the stomach for this kind of joyride should note his opening caveat: "There will be horror stories. Heavy drinking, drugs, screwing in the dry-goods area, unappetizing industry-wide practices. Talking about why you probably shouldn't order fish on a Monday, why those who favor well-done get the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel, and why seafood frittata is not a wise brunch selection.... But I'm simply not going to deceive anybody about the life as I've seen it." --Sumi Hahn

Features:

• Large Print

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
• Fiendishly delightful
  By all accounts, this should be a lousy book. The life story of a middle-aged, former substance-abusing, self-described SOB and good-but-not-great chef. In the hands of most people, this would be a rambling, uninteresting memoir that would never see the light of day. The fact that Bourdain pulls it off so brilliantly speaks to his ability as a writer and his unpretentious, anti-hero personality.
  This book made Bourdain famous, but ironically I found this book because he is famous. I enjoy his TV show,... more info
• Entertaining, Hyperbole or Not
  Whether or not this account is 100% factual, it IS 100% entertaining, provided one has the stomach for such debauchery. Sure, there's a bit of "Hey, look at me!" but it takes a healthy share of that to even bother writing down one's memoirs. If Chef Bourdain is to be believed, it takes that same well-fed ego to become a chef, so it's hardly unexpected.
  As someone who can barely scramble an egg without courting disaster, I found it fascinating. Many friends who have WORKED in the cooking industry (not... more info
• Fun, but no "must read" for aspiring chefs
  When I started culinary school, I was told that this book was a "must read" for anyone who wanted to be a chef. I bought it, but never read it. Finally, this year, I decided to bust through it. While it is fairly enjoyable, I hardly think it is a "must read" for any aspiring chef.
  Maybe I got lucky, but my experience working in restaurants is nothing like what Bourdain described. Maybe it's because I'm not in New York City, and maybe it's because it's no longer the 1980s, but the freakish work... more info
• An interesting read
  Anthony Bourdain is sort of a cynical character and portrays this dark, drug infested culinary life. I think he is a little jaded and not all kitchens are like the ones he worked in. Some are though. It was a good read (not for young readers due to language/adult references) and held my interest to the end. As a new professional chef, it gives you a bit of a reality check and some good advice for succeeding in the field. As with anything, though, take it with a grain of salt.

Similar Products:

• The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones, Price:
  $10.85
• A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines, Price:
  $10.92
• Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook: Strategies, Recipes, and Techniques of Classic Bistro Cooking, Price:
  $24.75
• No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach, Price:
  $23.07
• Bone in the Throat, Price:
  $10.17