Bourdain's Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Jul 19, 2018
Book #20: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
❤ Book #20 review from my 50 Books 2018 Challenge!
❤ You can read about my initial challenge progress, and check out all the books I’m reading this year here. I got off track, but I’m back at it now!
Kitchen Confidential
Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, by Anthony Bourdain
Another audio book on my list! I have found that they are tremendously helpful in making long travel days more productive — fitting in a book while waiting in multiple security and customs lines? Yes, please!
I’ve always been a fan of and respected Anthony Bourdain from afar— I rarely watch TV so have only seen a couple of his travel shows, and TBH I’m not a big chef or foodie so wasn’t sure his books would be a good fit for me. I was saddened by his untimely passing this June, and felt led to read his work and learn more about his life.
I am grateful I took the time to do so. One does not need to be a chef or a foodie to appreciate Bourdain’s raw, evocative, and candid life perspective and stories.
Anthony does narrate this audio book, and I loved listening to him tell his life story. I found it fascinating and really enjoyed hearing all about this whole NYC (and beyond) restaurant world that I knew nothing about up until now.
He tells his stories straight up, and you implicitly trust him because you just know he’s not bullshitting you. That inspired me to be even more real and raw in my own writing, and I’m grateful to have learned that lesson from his examples.
“I’m a big believer in winging it.
I’m a big believer that you’re never going to find perfect city travel experience or the perfect meal without a constant willingness to experience a bad one.
Letting the happy accident happen is what a lot of vacation itineraries miss, I think, and I’m always trying to push people to allow those things to happen rather than stick to some rigid itinerary.”
— Anthony Bourdain
Even though I am not a self-proclaimed foodie, I immediately became absorbed in his life journey and career as chef, and I definitely learned a thing or two about the culinary world in Kitchen Confidential.
I had so much fun listening to all the wild, mischievous, and sometimes raunchy situations he got himself into.
If you are a chef or in the restaurant industry, I can imagine you’d find this book even more captivating and and exhilarating to read or listen to.
If you are a foodie, you will definitely find his advice and insights valuable for your future outings.
“If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move.
As far as you can, as much as you can.
Across the ocean, or simply across the river.
Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.
It’s a plus for everybody.”
— Anthony Bourdain
If you’re curious to learn more about Anthony Bourdain, or the culinary industry in general, I do recommend Kitchen Confidential as a top-notch and incomparable gateway into his world.
“It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be.
The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn.
Maybe that’s enlightenment enough — to know that there is no final resting place of the mind, no moment of smug clarity.
Perhaps wisdom, at least for me, means realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go.”
— Anthony Bourdain
Disclosure: This book link is an affiliate link, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.
