Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

I feel like this book was superseded a bit by the explosion in cooking shows and networks and all that, but I also think this book precipitated that explosion in a way, so it's a victim of its own success, I guess? I read this entire thing in Anthony Bourdain's voice. Which makes sense, since he wrote it.

Kitchen Confidential condenses the energy, vitality, humor, integrity, and shock appeal that endeared Bourdain to millions of fans. It's impossible to read Kitchen Confidential and not feel some urge to abandon whatever else one may be doing with their life and go become a line cook (or at least take a little more pride while expressing one's self in the kitchen).

So I read this while in labor. That's pretty much an adequate summary of what I really remember about this book.

Okay, to be fair, I also found the view of the inside of the kitchen a lot less interesting than billed, probably because after Bourdain wrote Kitchen Confidential, there was much in the way of copy-catting, culminating in a plethora of TV shows providing the same inside scoop. On the other hand, the view of Bourdain trying to move from being a lay-about to actually making something of a life for himself was fascinating