“Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the culinary underbelly” by Anthony Bourdain

“Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the culinary underbelly” Audiobook

“Kitchen Confidential” is one man’s odyssey through his career in the industry, from dishwasher to executive chef and television producer. The author warns us early on that he is going to tell the truth – the good, the bad, and the just plain beautiful.

As the subtitle of the book states, this is an uncensored look into the culinary underbelly of American restaurants. The casual American restaurant-goer doesn’t see the fatalism, hard drugs, or the transiency of the workforce from the “front of the house” (the dining room side).

I’ve always believed that everyone should work at both a retail establishment as well as in a restaurant at some point in their lives to learn how to treat one another better.

Some of the stories are downright hilarious, and if I hadn’t worked at several different restaurants in the past, I’m not sure I would have believed them myself. I’ve worked with some of the types of characters he describes in this book.

Bourdain writes in the coarse language of someone who has come up in a professional kitchen. I’ve never seen any of his t.v. shows, but he strikes me as a very authentic person who has exceedingly high standards and little patience for incompetence or laziness, yet is willing to go to the mat and mentor someone when he recognizes raw determination and talent.

As with the other audiobooks I’ve reviewed, “Kitchen Confidential” wouldn’t have the same impact in printed form. It feels like Anthony Bourdain is right next, telling you his story, while you’re doing whatever it is you’re doing while you listen to this book. He not only has a great voice for narration, but his sincerity comes through.

I couldn’t help but empathize with the wear and tear and the many lows that Bourdain (much of it self-inflicted). The reader gets the impression that .

This is a must-read for anyone working in or connected to the restaurant industry, but it’s the type of book that anyone would enjoy. I left with a better appreciation for what goes on behind the scenes at a restaurant and among the pirate crews that run the kitchens. While this isn’t an instruction manual – there are no recipes anywhere in it –, I learned a lot about various foods he mentioned and researched them further. The next time I’m in a French restaurant, I’m definitely ordering a medium rare côte de boeuf.

If you enjoy “Kitchen Confidential”, you would also like his follow-up book, “Medium Raw”, although the former was more captivating in my opinion.

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