Joyfully Retired

To begin, let me say that Kitchen Confidential is not exactly a book about food. Yes, the author is a chef but, in this book, food is sort of incidental. This is a story about a guy who fell into a career having to do with food. At the age of 20 he picked this career path because “the cooks ruled. They had style and swagger, and they seemed afraid of nothing.” And he was surprisingly happy in the kitchen.”  

Here’s a shortened synopsis from Publisher’s Weekly.

Chef at New York’s Les Halles and author of Bone in the Throat, Bourdain pulls no punches in this memoir of his years in the restaurant business. His fast-lane personality and glee in recounting sophomoric kitchen pranks might be unbearable were it not for two things: Bourdain is as unsparingly acerbic with himself as he is with others, and he exhibits a sincere and profound love of good food. The latter was born on a family trip to France when young Bourdain tasted his first oyster, and his love has only grown since. He has attended culinary school, fallen prey to a drug habit and even established a restaurant in Tokyo, discovering along the way that the crazy, dirty, sometimes frightening world of the restaurant kitchen sustains him. Bourdain is no presentable TV version of a chef; he talks tough and dirty. Gossipy chapters discuss the many restaurants where Bourdain has worked and a single chapter on how to cook like a professional at home. Most of the book deals with Bourdain’s own maturation as a chef. He’d probably hate to hear it, but Bourdain has a tender side, and when it peeks through his rough exterior and the wall of four-letter words he constructs, it elevates this book to something more than blustery memoir.

In spite of the fact that the book wasn’t what I thought it would be, I liked it a lot. Although I have never worked in a professional kitchen, it reminded me of the days prior to my retirement. A part of me misses that rough, tough language often found on various job sites. It’s that swaggering, brash talk of people who are good at what they do and know it. He has a chapter on Human Resources (my former profession) that I found to be an excellent, although crude, handbook for managers.

I was not familiar with the author prior to reading this book. Someone told me they like his TV show so I did a little investigation. It turns out he has a popular show on the Travel Channel. [You'd think I'd know that from all the traveling I do but, unfortunately, most campgrounds don't have cable TV.] But -ta da- he writes a blog. It’s quite good and even has some recipes. Check it out here. If you like Anthony Bourdain, there is more: he’s also written novels. This guy is talented.   

I would recommend starting with this book if you want to understand how he became the way he is. And, if you can handle what my mother calls his “potty mouth”, this is a very good, well written, coming-of-age or coming-into-his-own memoir. A very good read.

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain was published by Ecco Press in 2000.