Bourdain tells all about the events in France during his youth that led to his becoming a chef, the three types of people who become professional cooks, and the things that make the lifestyle at times difficult, unique, challenging, grueling, intense, and incredible. He tells of his early fascination with food, eventual education at the Culinary Institute of America, and working his way up from dishwasher to Executive Chef of Les Halles in NYC. Along the way he takes jobs in Provincetown, Baltimore and Tokyo and gets hooked on drugs.
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As he recounts his life story to this point, he dispenses advice on cooking tools to own, what it takes to cook like the pros, when to order certain foods at restaurants (Never get the fish on Monday or mussels ever!), and other pointers. Be warned, this is not a book for your ten-year old budding Emeril to read (Bourdain calls him an fuzzy Ewok). Kitchen Confidential is laced with abundant profanity, graphic sexual imagery, and hardcore drug use. Anthony Bourdain said in 2000 that the things he wrote in his book would never get him his own show on The Food Network. He was wrong, in fact the things he writes about made him a celebrity and in 2003 he got his own show "A Cook's Tour".
The review of this Book prepared by David Fletcher
This book is what made Anthony Bourdain a celebrity, and is an account of his love affair with food and his progress from dishwasher to chef. In addition to memoirs of his life and anecdotes about people he's met, there are useful chapters about kitchen tools, what foods to avoid in restaurants and a chapter on kitchen jargon.
The review of this Book prepared by Jóhanna