Bourdain, Anthony - Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

[oyceter]

Given the new foreward to the paperback, Bourdain wasn't at all expecting the popularity of this book. After I read the foreward, I was expecting a whole lot of blustering, possibly even an expose.

While Bourdain is a bit of a character, and while he does expose some of the nastier sides of the restaurant business, he enjoys what he does and he loves food. The things that he gives advice on (don't order fish over the weekend, get better food on weekdays) aren't things that he seems to want to change. He's been in the business for a while, he knows the ropes, and he's just letting us in on some of what he knows.

I keep almost not liking Bourdain, given his rather stupid decisions at times, but he likes food so much! And not just fancy restaurant food, but oily fish and brains and all sorts of innards. It also makes me realize that the things I eat are probably things that he doesn't quite consider good food, like fancy salads. He's not big on plating or presentation, while I have to admit, I sort of like seeing things drizzled around.

But it reminds me of waitressing back in college, hanging around the kitchens, the industrial-sized fridge, the gas ranges and cooktops. I loved reading about the cooks' meez (mise-en-place) and their secrets (squeeze bottles and metal rings to stack things). I love seeing the behind-the-scenes of the places I eat (well, more like the places my dad eats).

Bourdain seems very conservative; he doesn't much like what he thinks of as "froo-froo." He remarks on the lack of women in the culinary world, the machismo atmosphere. He mentions that some of the best help in the kitchen are Ecuadorians and Guatemalans, but he never really talks about how the top echelon of chefs are still white males.

Still, I like reading about kitchens and restaurants and how they're run, and Bourdain has a very good narrative voice.

Comments

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

FYI there's a collection of posts here (http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2006/07/14/no-reservations-the-shwarma-and-shrapnel-episode/) detailing Bourdain's recent escape from Beirut.

I really enjoyed the book and I'm curious now to see his cooking shows. From the book it seemed like he was very much a product of the '70s so it'd be interesting to see if all the travel has changed his views. I did think though that he seemed very aware of how the atmosphere of the kitchens led to the prevalence of white male chefs in N. America that you talk about, but that he enjoyed it too much to condemn or try to change it.

The thing I really came away with though was how ripped off we were by that Kitchen Confidential sitcom. If they had put that on cable so that the language was authentic and actually given us the insights that Bourdain did it could have been such a fun show!

[deadsoul820.livejournal.com]

I 100% x 10 recommend his current show, No Reservations. Not cooking per se but traveling and eating any and everything the locals eat. See my response to Oyce for more about the show.

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

100% x 10? Why that's 1000% and that's a lot! I really must up my cable again, I swear I only miss it in the summer.

You made me do math. Damn you.

[oyceter]

There was a Kitchen Confidential sitcom?! Weird!

I think he came off as sort of being aware of the atmosphere, but also that he didn't think of it as that much of a problem. Um. Yeah, what you said!

Thanks for the link!