Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain. 

4/5 rating. 312 pages.

Book #42 of 2020. Read June 28, 2020.

This is a hilarious, self-deprecating, and amazingly entertaining memoir that began Anthony’s stardom and life of traveling to distant locales to explore and taste interesting foods.

I truly believe that Anthony has got to be one of the coolest people to ever live. His incredibly sad death was a blow to the world, but this memoir shows why he was so loved. Anthony talks through his career in food starting as an insufferable dishwasher in Provincetown, all the way to his work as chef at Les Halles in New York. His stories of debauchery, alcohol, drugs, and love of food told in his dry, witty tone shows how an asshole with humor can be a fun guide through a life.

If you have seen any of Anthony’s TV shows, work in the food industry, or just enjoy crude, and hilarious memoirs, absolutely go read this book! It made me miss him even more, but the laughs were definitely worth it.

Quotes:

“‘That’s not my job’ was not in the Bigfoot phrase book. Toilet overflows while the chef is at hand? He’s going right in with a plunger, and fast. No waiting for the toilet guy – he is the toilet guy now. In Bigfoot’s army, you fight for the cause, anywhere you are needed. If it’s slow in the kitchen, you pick up an old sauté pan and scrub the carbon off the bottom. Genteel sensibilities are unwelcome. Lead, follow…or get out of the way.”

“All the food was simple. And I don’t mean easy, or dumb. I mean that for the first time, I saw how three or four ingredients, as long as they are of the highest and freshest quality, can be combined in a straightforward way to make a truly excellent and occasionally wondrous product.”

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