Name: Matthew Jackson's review of Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
Item: Kitchen Confidential
Rating: 5
Author: Matthew Jackson

Anthony Bourdain

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

Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

Kitchen Confidential

After twenty-five years of 'sex, drugs, bad behaviour and haute cuisine', chef and novelist Anthony Bourdain has decided to tell all. From his first oyster in the Gironde to his lowly position as a dishwasher in a honky-tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown; from the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop the Rockefeller Center to drug dealers in the East Village, from Tokyo to Paris and back to New York again, Bourdain's tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable, as shocking as they are funny.

It's a gaze of wonder: the same look you see on small children's faces when their fathers take them into deep water at the beach, and it's always a beautiful thing. For a mo-ment, or a second, the pinched expressions of the cynical, world-weary, throat-cutting, miserable bastards we've all had to become disappears, when we're confronted with something as simple as a plate of food. When we remember what it was that moved us down this road in the first place.

At the base of my right forefinger is an inch-and-a-half diagonal callus, yellowish-brown in color, where the heels of all the knives I've ever owned have rested, the skin softened by constant immersions in water. I'm proud of this one. It distinguishes me immediately as a cook, as someone who's been on the job for a long time. You can feel it when you shake my hand, just as I feel it on others of my profession. It's a secret sign, sort of a Masonic handshake without the silliness, a way that we in the life recognize one another, the thickness and roughness of that piece of flesh, a résumé of sorts, telling others how long and how hard it's been.

Burning with a desire for vengeance and vindication, I applied myself to gaining entry to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.

Piet Terheyden

If you cut yourself in the Work Progress kitchen, tradition called for maximum spillage and dispersion of blood. One squeezed the wound till it ran freely, then hurled great gouts of red spray on the jackets and aprons of comrades. We loved blood in our kitchen. If you dinged yourself badly, it was no disgrace; we'd stencil a little cut-out shape of a chef knife under your station to commemorate the event.

An ounce of sauce covers a multitude of sins.

Too lazy to peel fresh? You don't deserve to eat garlic.

Misuse of garlic is a crime. Old garlic, burnt garlic, garlic cut too long ago, garlic that has been tragically smashed through one of those abominations, the garlic press, are all disgusting. Please, treat your garlic with respect.

If you're planning on using margarine in anything, you can stop reading now, because I won't be able to help you.

Remember, brunch is only served once a week - on the weekends. Buzzword here, 'Brunch Menu'. Translation? 'Old, nasty odds and ends, and 12 dollars for two eggs with a free Bloody Mary'.

For 'en vinaigrette' on the menu, read 'preserved' or 'disguised'.

I don't eat mussels in restaurants unless I know the chef personally, or have seen, with my own eyes, how they store and hold their mussels for service.

Matthew Jackson

i only started this book bc i wanted wanted to be in my sydney from the bear era but instead i’m in my anthony bourdain is my idol era. 

also, anthony writes the same way he talks so the book doesn’t feel like a boring memoir but instead feels like a conversation with your uncle during thanksgiving dinner that turns into the most jarring, impassioned, life altering experiences that changes your perspective on life and makes you want to change careers paths even tho u can’t drop university to become a chef and move to nyc and work for a big jewish man named bigfoot and have a sous-chef who is my right hand man, my evil twin and my bestie named steve and be the grim reaper of dying restaurants until i get my own french place and show those province town wussies that i’m the real deal and i’ve earned my hands. 

in my next life, i hope to be even half as cool as anthony bourdain was.

van 

i only started this book bc i wanted wanted to be in my sydney from the bear era but instead i’m in my anthony bourdain is my idol era. 

also, anthony writes the same way he talks so the book doesn’t feel like a boring memoir but instead feels like a conversation with your uncle during thanksgiving dinner that turns into the most jarring, impassioned, life altering experiences that changes your perspective on life and makes you want to change careers paths even tho u can’t drop university to become a chef and move to nyc and work for a big jewish man named bigfoot and have a sous-chef who is my right hand man, my evil twin and my bestie named steve and be the grim reaper of dying restaurants until i get my own french place and show those province town wussies that i’m the real deal and i’ve earned my hands. 

in my next life, i hope to be even half as cool as anthony bourdain was.

tori

This was solid, but not riveting. Definitely never order any specials at a restaurant. 

It was enjoyable as an audiobook I’d listen to while out doing errands, but I wasn’t in a rush to get through it the way I tend to be with a good book.

Madison Haymes

Brimming with passion. I don’t know if there’s anyone that loves cooking as much as Bourdain seemed to. He described dishes I’ve never heard of in a way that lent them a tangibility. If you haven’t got the time to read this book, then at the very least, set aside twenty minutes to read the chapter about his trip to Tokyo. 

John Lopiano Jr.

I’ve never worked in a restaurant, but growing up my parents owned one. Reading this unlocked so many subconscious memories I had of my parents squabbling over employees, budgets, product, etc. My dad tells me to this day that if I ever consider opening my own business, I’m a fool. Anthony Bourdain is a cultural icon and hero who left us too soon and this book is a work of brutal and honest art. You don’t have to be in the culinary business to appreciate it.

Modith D.

First of all I know nothing about Anthony Bourdain except for the expression I got from this book which is that he knows his stuff and he's been through the blender in the culinary world but also that he's an ass and bit of a narcissist. Now about the book it's too vague to be cooking guide and one sided to be an autobiography. It does however live up to it's title, I have never thought that the culinary underbelly would make army camp look tame but a great read for you if your thinking of entering the culinary world otherwise it's better to just stick to the cooking channel

Anthony Bourdain's international mega-bestseller: the down and dirty memoir that shot him to stardom

Ali Angco

3.75 to be specific. See my full review on Storygraph.

A New York City chef who is also a novelist recounts his experiences in the restaurant business, and exposes abuses of power, sexual promiscuity, drug use, and other secrets of life behind kitchen doors.

Katherine Yang

Really entertaining, especially as I get more and more into cooking (well, baking, but still). Never realised the culinary world was so intriguing.

Gavin

Lots to dislike but I like it. The prose is just a voiceover: short sentences, newline punchlines, chatty laddish bluster. You wouldn't want to spend time with young Bourdain; too edgy, too miserable, too addled. At no point does he disown his wild years, but this is written as a different, charming, distant man. I suppose this made him a star because honesty and filth are rare in high cuisine, or in the received notion of high cuisine. He refers to himself as a "cook" throughout (or even "cookie"), endearingly. 

Anyone else playing at being a junkie cuisinier, sexual tyrannosaurus, smash-hit author, primetime travel host, and, most recently, jiujitsu japer would surely be risible. But his enthusiasm is convincing.

It may well be that Bourdain was a 6/10 chef; I can tell you he's a 6/10 writer, at least as prose goes. But domains multiply when they intersect.

Bouke van der Bijl

Incredible look into an inquisitive and tortured soul. Bourdain needs no introduction, and this book is a great look into what goes on behind the scenes after you order your meal at a restaurant. It is highly enjoyable and incredibly written, for example the chapter about his experience of going to japan gave me vivid images of the street setting there. 

May he rest In peace

Andrew Louis

In the tech industry, the thinking used to be: "sure, it might be a toxic boys club but at the end of the day, anyone can make it because good code is all that matters." This book is a version of that for the food world I hope there's been some introspection in the decade since it was published. 

THAT SAID, as the telling of a person's story in a particular culture, this was quite the read.

Sam Al-Wahid

This book was amazing. I've never had an inclination to study the culinary arts or to become a chef, but this book made me consider it on more than one occasion throughout the read.

His life has clearly been a rollercoaster and yet the story is told with a certain level of panache and detail that surprises. He was a habitual drug user during points of his story - the hard stuff too, yet was still able to recall key details and interactions he had with people.

I would recommend this to anyone who has always been curious about the industry, likes a good read, or just enjoys good writing.

Elda Mengisto

"I want the readers to get a glimpse of the true joys of making really good food at the professional level. I'd like them to understand what it feels like to attain the child's dream of running one's own pirate crew--what it feels like, looks like, and smells like in the clatter and hiss of a big-city restaurant kitchen. And I'd like to convey, as best I can, the strange delights of the language, patois, and death's head sense of humor found on the front lines. I'd like civilians who read this to get a sense, at least, that this life, in spite of everything, can be fun." (4)

I only knew Anthony Bourdain's public persona as a presenter of different cultures--mostly through his show Parts Unknown. I learned a lot about the food of a place, but it was the history and people of a particular location that really stood out. That said, I only got slight hints of Bourdain's previous life as a chef, and the darkness in which he did drugs and apparently bounced around.

When reading this book, I immediately liked the writing style. There were moments in which it felt like a perfect scene, such as with his vacation in France when he was younger and got to try his first oyster. It was some impressive character development shown, especially how picky the boy was earlier. Others were disturbing, albeit just as amusing, such as an incident when he eavesdropped a bride having sex with a waiter with the rest of the crew. They gave interesting vignettes to his life in the kitchen, which, as he demonstrated, becomes his place.

Simultaneously, through the people he meets and the subsequent experiences he has with them, brought a lot of wisdom to his approach. He discusses about who cooks and is subsequently blunt on one thing--"I can teach him to cook. I can't teach character. Show up at work on time six months in a row and we'll talk about red curry paste and lemongrass" (63). In the chapter featuring Bigfoot, where he learns about discipline and how significant it is, it's clear that he has standards he has are quite high. And these could be seen in his "commencement speech" at the end.

Overall, I appreciate the storytelling and the morality plays which are clearly described in vignettes. From how one's cooking leads to an ill-fated venture to create a restaurant through what is needed for a good kitchen, he explains a lot while simultaneously opening a window for people who are less familiar with the culinary world. He makes it clear while it looks rewarding, a lot of pain comes a long with it, from physical wounds to not being able to have a "regular life" outside the kitchen. It's a bit greasy, and shows the culinary underbelly mentioned in the subtitle.

I enjoyed this book a lot. While some squicky things existed (including explicit language and slurs as code) may not be the best for everybody, there's a bunch of knowledge invoked in the story that gives a good idea on what Bourdain knew and experienced; the travel chapters (especially where he goes to Japan) also opened towards what would eventually come in his travel experiences. Unfortunately, we will never get anymore of it, but we could make the ones he have last forever--what a guy. (8.5/10)

Amelia Lin

Extremely readable and entertaining, but it doesn't make me much like the man.

Latitude Tamarind

Celeste Richardson

I am not, nor have I ever been, a foodie. I wish I was. I wish I had a more adventurous palette that loved encountering new things. But alas, such is not my lot in life. However, I’ve always loved cooking shows and food-based travelogues for reasons that honestly elude me. I still remember watching Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations on the Travel Channel when I was in high school and losing myself in daydreams of exotic locales and finding my way off of their beaten paths and into locals-only areas. I thought Bourdain had one of the most fascinating jobs on the planet. Because of this, I was intrigued by his early life and decided to read my first ever foodie memoir about how he got started in the business. 
“I've long believed that good food, good eating, is all about risk. Whether we're talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters or working for organized crime 'associates,' food, for me, has always been an adventure.”
Bourdain’s story was incredibly addictive. This was a no-holds-barred look at the industry and the people who populate it, written when such tell-all stories were far from the norm in the food world. I loved Bourdain’s honesty here, both about the kitchens and people who have such a huge place in his life and about his own failings. He didn’t try to show himself in a better light than he felt he deserved, and he had no qualms about confessing his own shortcomings. He also had no problem sharing the shortcomings of others or peeling back the curtains to let the outside world see the seedy underbelly of the food industry. I could have done without some of that knowledge, especially about certain hygienic issues, but the fun was worth the cringing.
“…your body is not a temple, it's an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.”
I love Bourdain’s passion for food and for the people who prepare it. He passionately praises the people he’s worked with, from executive chefs to busboys and everyone in between. If you’re passionate about your job and give it your all, Bourdain loved you. Also, I had no idea that drugs and sex were such a huge part of the food scene in the 70s and 80s, and reading about Bourdain’s escapades with his fellows in the industry was wild. 
“Writing anything is a treason of sorts.”
What I wasn’t expecting was Bourdain’s writing chops. The man really knows how to string together words in ways that not only entertain but inform and transport the reader straight into the heat of the kitchen. With this book, Bourdain launched an entire subgenre of memoir. Food memoirs are now hugely popular, and I honestly don’t think those would be as prevalent or as honest had Bourdain not written Kitchen Confidential. (Side note: If you’re an audiobook fan, Bourdain narrates this himself.)
“I’m not going anywhere. I hope. It's been an adventure. We took some casualties over the years. Things got broken. Things got lost. 
But I wouldn't have missed it for the world.”
Have I ever thought about chefs being the rock star, pirate equivalents of the culinary world? Nope. Will I think of them as such from now on? Probably not. But Bourdain sure as hell was a rock star in the food industry, and the world lost him far too soon.

You can find  this review and more at Novel Notions.

Emily Glasier

Very entertaining read, giving a frontline view of the culinary world. Also liked that I could hear Bourdain narrating the whole book in my head.

Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed

Alicia Dixon

I enjoyed the last third or so of this book quite a lot. However, a lot of Bourdain’s kitchen wisdom echoes of a bygone era. As much as I know how true some of his comments about working in food service may be, I just didn’t enjoy hearing about the harassment, injuries, and mistreatment that went down in the kitchen. Things can be the standard and still be a problem, and this book writes off very bad behavior with a chuckle and a shot. 

Still, it was interesting to learn a little more about Bourdain’s journey to becoming an icon, and I certainly learned some things about what not to order at brunch. 

B.H. Pitt

A heartfelt mix of autobiography and handy advice for anyone who cares at all about good food. Bourdain, you are missed.

Robin M Cabana

I am really starting to like audiobooks. I listened to Tony Bourdain on my wait to and from work this week and as amused by his antics, intrigued by the food and people he describes and somewhat horrified (but not too much) by the stories or what really goes on in restaurant kitchens! He is a maniac, but also very charming and funny, and it was nice to hear him tell the story. I think I need to check out his new book now.

Caroline Lewicki

This is a wild ride of a book! Anthony Bourdain's behind the scenes look at life in a restaurant is funny, sordid, and down right entertaining. There were a few parts that hurt me a little, as he often jokes and jabs about suicide and his lifestyle driving him to extinction. Obviously when this was written, Bourdain was still alive but in light of his unexpected death, you can't help but cringe a little at these asides and wonder if the jokes were not in jest. 

My only other complaint hits his editor, who clearly didn't know how to use a comma sparingly. There were some parts that took reread after reread because commas broke sentences up in ways that didn't make sense.

Overall a really fun book to read!

Shantesh Patil

This was a tough one to read. Not because of the way it was written or the contents of the book. There was a constant sense of foreboding with every new chapter that I got through. A book like this is an insight into someone's soul.

The fact that a life like this eventually led to what now everyone knows about Anthony Bourdain was heartbreaking. There is one specific chapter in the book that is too eerie in its foreshadowing of the things that happened later. But in the spirit that it is written it doesn't feel that way at all. 

While he often says that this book would appeal more to chefs and others from that world, it's an equally fascinating read for regular folks as well. He never shies away from laying the dark secrets of the industry bare and does it in the most entertaining way possible.

Barry Hess

Bourdain's frank writing style and gifted story telling make this an interesting read. There are numerous stories told, not directly related, but all part of Bourdain's career as a kitchen worker, cook and ultimately respected chef. A good read for anyone interested in food and what goes into a great meal.

Bryan Maniotakis

I really enjoyed this. Coming from a few restaurant jobs from when I was younger made it all the more relatable.

Matthew Jackson &
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

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