Kitchen Confidential Book Review - Throw Back to MU 2001

Anthony Bourdain, a celebrity chef from New York, relives his exciting, disgusting and somewhat criminal climb to the top. Once a lowly dishwasher, Bourdain got his break as a cook by accident, an experience similar to countless chefs in the industry. Aimless, bitter and close to eviction, the restaurant industry offered what a lot ofyoung guys are looking for: drugs, waitresses, and free booze. When a sauté cook failed to show up for his shift, Bourdain was nabbed out of the dishtank and dropped behind a Garland range. This is where the adventure began. Like the majority of cooks in the industry, job-hopping is nothing out of the ordinary. Bourdain’s travels took him to numerous establishments and none of them, like most restaurants, were that different from the last. Wherever you go, there is always a “supplier” (dealer), always a “five o’clock special” (a practice of getting high under hood vents or walk in coolers at five o’clock) and a lot of casual sex. There are a lot of bullies, an infinite number of amateur restaurateurs and know-it-all culinary students, not to mention, a lot of attitude.Kitchens and their “meal technicians” are not known for their cleanliness, wholesomeness, reliability or intelligence. Kitchens aren’t think tanks, science labs, or academic facilities. Chefs aren’t known as public speakers, let alone authors. Kitchens are one of those places that are usually staffed by transient workers and convicts.Did you ever wonder if your breadbasket made its first debut at another table? Bourdain has the answer to that, ‘I will eat bread in restaurants, even if I know it’s probably been recycled off someone else’s’ table. I’m sure that some restaurants explicitly instruct their Bengali busboys to throw out all that unused bread-which amounts to about fifty percent-and maybe some places actually do it. But when it’s busy and the busboy is crumbing tables, emptying ashtrays, refilling water glasses, and hustling dirty dishes back to the dishwasher-and he sees a basket full of untouched bread- most times, he’s going to use it. This is a fact of life. It doesn’t bother me, and shouldn’t surprise you”. Enough said.The stories are never-ending and more appalling as they progress. I hated this book, and the reason I hated it is because everything in it is true.As a working pastry chef and culinary school graduate, I can attest to the accuracy of this utterly coarse text. What angers me is that I am in the minority. I am amoung a handfull of cooks who don’t party, drink or smoke. I rarely meet any other ‘professionals” in my field who act professionally. I am sick of the stigma and the waste of talent that I run into on a daily basis. I have worked for and with some of the most brilliant people I have ever met, and they subscribe to the most depraved and revolting moral codes I have ever seen. Perhaps with the population demanding food as entertainment, and a growing number of sophisticated patrons, discipline will once again be introduced into the professional kitchen. Until then, if you want “clean” food, avoid special orders, well-done meat, and, of course, the breadbasket