Kitchen Confidential: Book Review

Today, we will be reviewing Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain, a nonfiction book by a chef. Keep reading to to find out if you should read this book next!

Kitchen Confidential Summary

Anthony Bourdain shares kitchen secrets in this confessional novel as he talks about his career as a chef. Bourdain has worked all over New York City as well as having traveled to other cities. 

In this book, you will learn what goes on in the kitchen, how many restaurants safe money, how chefs take care of food and what signs to look for. Having worked in many kitchens, Bourdain has seen it all and recalls his adventures with funny anecdotes and lessons that will stay with many readers. 

Commentary

The novel was published in 2000 and was a New York Times bestseller and made Anthony Bourdain a celebrity overnight. The public got a view of the novel in 1999 when Bourdain wrote an essay titled “Don’t Eat Before Reading This” which was published in The New Yorker. 

In the book, Bourdain shares an unfiltered account of what takes place in a typical restaurant. The raw writing and being honest about it as well as being humorous made this the perfect book and it’s no surprise that it was well received.

In 2017, Bourdain said that he regretted that Kitchen Confidential “celebrated or prolonged a culture that allowed the kind of grotesque behaviors we’re hearing about all too frequently”.

After having read A Cook’s Tour by Bourdain, I knew that I had to read the book that made him famous. Unlike A Cook’s Tour, Bourdain shares his own experiences in the kitchen and his writing makes it impossible to put down.

The book is over 20 years old so not everything he says will be true anymore. But his popular advice of not ordering fish on a Monday became mantras’ because of Bourdain. You don’t get to see what Bourdain went through to get where he is in his other books. This book is a biography as well as a memoir. 

Conclusion

If you have watched Anthony Bourdain’s shows on TV or have read any of his books, then you have to read this book. In it, you learn how and why Bourdain became a chef and what it takes to become a chef. There won’t be another chef and writer like Anthony Bourdain. Happy reading!

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