BOOK 236: KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL: ANTHONY BOURDAIN

Over two decades ago, the New Yorker published a now infamous article, “Don’t Eat Before Reading This,” by then little-known chef Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain spared no one’s appetite as he revealed what happens behind the kitchen door. The article was a sensation, and the book it spawned, the now iconic Kitchen Confidential, became an even bigger sensation and megabestseller. Frankly confessional, addictively acerbic, and utterly unsparing, Bourdain pulls no punches in this memoir of his years in the restaurant business.

Fans will love to return to this deliciously funny, delectably shocking banquet of wild-but-true tales of life in the culinary trade, laying out Bourdain’s more than a quarter-century of drugs, sex, and haute cuisine. Including a handwritten introduction and annotations done by Bourdain about a decade after the book was originally published, this edition also features previously unpublished photos to accompany the now-classic text.

(From Goodreads)

MY VERDICT: I loved reading this book. If you’ve ever seen any of Anthony Bourdain’s shows or interviews then you can read it in his voice, in his tone, it feels like a great storyteller just telling you some stories from their life but there’s also a lot of information. There’s so much information about cooking, about the restaurant business, about food, travel and experience. A recommend if you’re interested in any of those things and even if you’re not a fan of any of his television shows.