Name: Medium Raw
Rating: 3.677777777777778 (45 reviews)
ISBN: 9781408809143

Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain's long-awaited sequel to Kitchen Confidential, the worldwide bestseller.

A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

Medium Raw

A lot has changed since Kitchen Confidential - for the subculture of chefs and cooks, for the restaurant business-and for Anthony Bourdain. Medium Raw explores these changes, moving back and forth from the author's bad old days to the present. Tracking his own strange and unexpected voyage from journeyman cook to globe-travelling professional eater and drinker, Bourdain compares and contrasts what he's seen and what he's seeing, pausing along the way for a series of confessions, rants, investigations, and interrogations of some of the most controversial figures in food. And always he returns to the question: 'Why cook?' Or the harder one to answer: 'Why cook well?' Beginning with a secret and highly illegal after-hours gathering of powerful chefs he compares to a Mafia summit, Bourdain, in his distinctive, no-holds-barred style, cuts to the bone on every subject he tackles.

Jennifer

New goal in life: find something I love as much as Anthony Bourdain loves describing and writing about and eating pho. Also, find something I am so familiar with to be able to cynically and casually talk about like he is with the restaurant business. I watched this alongside episodes of Parts Unknown on Netflix. One thing I observed, it is not at all surprising that he died by suicide. In this book, he talks about it openly. And everything about his body language and behavior in the show suggests depression. Sad but now that we’re all paying attention, extremely noticeable. I also watched some episodes of Top Chef with Anthony Bourdain and Jesus, no I wouldn’t want to cook for him. He’s really mean as a chef. Kind of like the Simon Cowell of cooking shows. But after reading about his life around the time he was on Top Chef, yes, again, super obvious he was depressed. Four stars for the food porn and unapologetic rants about people &gt; animals.

An instant New York Times bestseller and the follow-up to the mega-hit Kitchen Confidential In the ten years since Anthony Bourdain's classic Kitchen Confidential first alerted us to the idiosyncrasies and lurking perils of eating out, much has changed for the subculture of chefs and cooks, for the restaurant business–and for Anthony Bourdain. Medium Raw tracks Bourdain's unexpected voyage from journeyman cook to globe-traveling professional eater and drinker, and even to fatherhood, in a series of takes-no-prisoners confessions, rants, investigations, and interrogations of some of the most controversial figures in food. Beginning with a secret, highly illegal after-hours gathering of powerful chefs that he compares to a mafia summit, Bourdain pulls back the curtain–but never pulls his punches–on the modern gastronomical revolution. Cutting right to the bone, Bourdain sets his sights on some of the biggest names in the foodie world, including David Chang, the young superstar chef; the revered Alice Waters; the Top Chef contestants; and many more. Medium Raw is the deliciously funny, shockingly delectable result, sure to delight philistines and gourmands alike.

Clay Carey

This was fine!! Sequels are weird and meta in a way I’m not psyched abt but its fun to see how much the first book changed his life 

Bailee Strong

I almost regret reading this before "Kitchen Confidential" - it was already on the Storygraph Genre Challenge list when I added it so I started there. But regardless, it was an absolute firecracker of an experience. It is an excellent blend of anecdotes of Bourdain's experience and a showcase of his passion for food and the art of eating (some of those passages are downright poetic).

Laura Mauler

Nick and I listened to this audiobook as we drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Over dinner that night we talked about the book, and both of us were very reluctant to say the truth: we didn't really like it. We danced around it a bit, but in the end it had to be said. Both of us had a big problem with the narrative - it jumped all over the place with no notable pattern to keep it together. Judging from some of the reviews, it's actually a collection of essays rather than a narrative book, which I did not realize. Perhaps this would have been obvious if I was reading it instead of listening, but in the audio format the essay style just comes off as messy.

My other criticism is that it was so negative and complainy (is that a word?). Yes, I know this is Anthony Bourdain. I loved "No Reservations", "Kitchen Confidential", and he's one of my favorite guest judges on Top Chef - I am very aware that snide and complainy is what he does. But this was just so over the top, it felt like someone doing a caricature of Anthony Bourdain. It was exhausting and annoying, which isn't good for a 6 hour drive.

The good: there is one part where he goes into food porn mode, giving sizzling glimpses of food encounters that are great individually but layer together to make something magical (like eating figs, then eating them with prosciutto). Far and away the best part of the book. Be careful though, because hearing this section when you are surrounded by Wendy's and Subways and Pizza Hut To-Gos might just make you crazy.

Nic Lake

Chapter 18, “My Aim Is True”, has been my favorite 20 pages from a book for over 7 years now. Was great to revisit this one again.

Jeannette Ordas

What can I say that hasn't already been said? Enjoyable and shit-disturbing with a couple apologies thrown in. 3.5 stars.

Robin M Cabana

I didn't love Medium Raw as much as Kitchen Confidential, but Anthony Bourdain definitely has some great stories to tell. I really love his descriptions of food that I would never, never eat! And I just loved the chapter about the guy who cuts fish at Le Bernardin. He drops a lot of references to Top Chef and Eric Ripert, which can get annoying, but his new experiences of being a dad are pretty sweet. I listened to this audio book and Tony's reading on this is much better than on KC.

b.andherbooks

Bourdain is an excellent narrator, so if you have a chance to listen to any of his work I highly recommend it. I did struggle with sadness while listening as I'm still feeling rather raw over his suicide, and there are some passages here that hurt all the more now that he is gone.

My husband and I laughed until we cried during the chapter on Disney movies and Old Yeller.

Medium Raw A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

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