Written and Narrated by: Anthony Bourdain
Duration: 8 hours 15 minutes
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.
New York Chef Tony Bourdain gives away secrets of the trade in his wickedly funny, inspiring memoir/expose. Kitchen Confidential reveals what Bourdain calls "twenty-five years of sex, drugs, bad behavior and haute cuisine.
My thoughts: What can I say about this? Anthony Bourdain was a legend and it was devastating to hear about his loss a few years back. I've enjoyed watching his Travel Channel show so I looked forward to listening to this audio. Sadly, I did not enjoy it as much.
Anthony Bourdain recounted how he came into the culinary world and described his experiences in working in different restaurants. Some of his anecdotes were entertaining to listen to, such as the portion about his Latino workers in the kitchen. I also got to learn a few things, such as when it was the best time to eat seafood in a restaurant. However, much of the time I felt that he was listing things instead of telling a story. I found myself zooming out on these parts, which happened often.
What I did not like about this memoir was how Anthony made it seemed that every restaurant had a crude environment as the ones he worked at. He kept saying that if a woman wanted to be in this line of business, then she had to be ready for the sexual remarks, the bad mouthing, and "tough" environment. In other words, he was saying that that's how it was in the culinary world and women need to just suck it up or go into a different field. I've worked in kitchens before as an order cook. Yes, it was not easy to work in this environment because stress made people do many crazy things, but to go through the events that Anthony portrayed and say "that's how it is" did not settle well with me.
I really wanted to like this audiobook, especially since it was narrated by Anthony himself, but well...it was not by cup-of-tea. I did enjoy some of the tales and I did learn a few things, but overall it was...eh. I rate it:
I have not listened to or read any of Anthony Bourdain's books... Although I've always wanted to read one or more of them, but just never made the time to date.
ReplyDeleteI loved watching Bourdain's television series, No Reservations, and was very saddened by his passing.
Sorry to learn that you found Kitchen Confidential to be a disappointment. I can understand why you didn't enjoy this book.
I really wanted to like it. My husband actually loved it. It was not my cup-of-tea I guess.
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