Kitchen Confidential
by Anthony Bourdain is a powerful and insightful book. Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, the second part of the tile is exactly what the book takes you on, an Adventure. Bourdin’s writing is superb, making the reader feel like they’re in the kitchen with him. As each page passed I wanted more and more to be there honing my culinary skills.
Aside from the culinary adventure, it is a story of Bourdain’s life. An upper class, well educated guy who loved food. He loved cooking and everything that came along with working in a restaurant kitchen, no matter how hard the work was. The thing he was most proud of were the callouses and scares on his hands, the signs of a true chef.
Bourdain discusses his darker side. His issues with drug addiction and how common place heavy drug use was a part of his kitchens. Explaining that, “It is no coincidence that all my kitchens over time come to resemble one another…debauched and overloaded with faux testosterone…dysfunctional. I coddle my hooligans when I’m not bullying them. I’m visibly charmed by their extra-curricular excesses and their anti social tendencies. My love for chaos, conspiracy and the dark side of human nature colors the behavior of my charges, most of whom are already living near the fringes of acceptable conduct. The revelation that not all kitchen are like his comes when he befriends Scott Bryan at Veritas. Bourdain gives him the highest honors when he says that Bryan is, “the guy I know who embodies the culinary ideal”
The chapter titled DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES, gives great insight into Bourdain’s thoughts on life and death. He talks about one night on a cab ride back from scoring some dope and how “only one in four has a chance at making it”. He was determined to be the one, “I didn’t care what it took, how long I’d known them, what we’d been through together or how close we’d been. I was going to live. I was the (one) guy.” Bourdain describes himself as a sentimental guy, and a loyal friend that had to find a why to deal with “the some things you must do” as a chef. I think Bourdain struggled with this and was trying to convince himself when he said, “If an unexpected period of unemployment inspires you to leap off a bridge, hang yourself from a tree or chug-a-lug a quart of drain cleaner, that’s too bad.”
If you like food, and want to take an adventure in the world of restaurant kitchens this book is a must read.
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