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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
It honestly pains me to give this book only 3 stars because I genuinely love Anthony Bourdain. His shows inspired me to embrace travel, food, and adventure outside my comfort zone. His death hit me hard, and the world feels a little dimmer without him in it.
When "Kitchen Confidential" was first released in 2000, it was revolutionary. Bourdain exposed the gritty, chaotic, and often shocking reality of restaurant kitchens. I can see why it had such a massive cultural impact at the time. Many parts of the book remain fascinating and eye-opening; you will not view restaurant dining in the same way after reading it.
That said, reading it now, more than 2 decades later, some of the shock value has worn off. With shows like "The Bear" and more mainstream exposure to the underbelly of the restaurant world, this kind of content feels more familiar. Some sections dragged for me, especially the long lists of names and restaurants I didn’t recognize, which made it hard to stay engaged.
The structure also felt a bit chaotic. It reads more like a series of loosely connected anecdotes than a cohesive narrative. The storytelling can get repetitive toward the end, and I found myself skimming some parts.
I do wonder if I would have enjoyed it more as an audiobook narrated by Bourdain himself. His voice and personality added so much charm and insight to his TV work that it might have brought more life and pacing to the text.
When "Kitchen Confidential" was first released in 2000, it was revolutionary. Bourdain exposed the gritty, chaotic, and often shocking reality of restaurant kitchens. I can see why it had such a massive cultural impact at the time. Many parts of the book remain fascinating and eye-opening; you will not view restaurant dining in the same way after reading it.
That said, reading it now, more than 2 decades later, some of the shock value has worn off. With shows like "The Bear" and more mainstream exposure to the underbelly of the restaurant world, this kind of content feels more familiar. Some sections dragged for me, especially the long lists of names and restaurants I didn’t recognize, which made it hard to stay engaged.
The structure also felt a bit chaotic. It reads more like a series of loosely connected anecdotes than a cohesive narrative. The storytelling can get repetitive toward the end, and I found myself skimming some parts.
I do wonder if I would have enjoyed it more as an audiobook narrated by Bourdain himself. His voice and personality added so much charm and insight to his TV work that it might have brought more life and pacing to the text.
dark
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use
Moderate: Suicide
Incredible writing. Engaging, interesting, and altogether inspiring.
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
informative
fast-paced
i could never survive in the restaurant industry
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
funny
informative
fast-paced
Some of the stories seem so far-fetched that they can't be true. Can they?
Interesting, but I don't think I could read any more by him. Got a bit tired of the punk rock / how cool am I references. But the stuff about how a restaurant really works was interesting.
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
fast-paced
I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed it. I was not a huge Bourdain fan (and still am not), but I feel like I better understand his personality having listened to him discuss his history, his struggles with drugs and alcohol, and his life in the kitchen. Overall, a very unfiltered, realistic, and gruff biography that was an enjoyable and dark look into the world of the fast paced restaurant world.