The long-awaited follow-up to the mega-best-seller Kitchen Confidential
In the 10 years since his classic Kitchen Confidential first alerted us to the idiosyncrasies and lurking perils of eating out – from Monday fish to the breadbasket conspiracy – much has changed for the subculture of chefs and cooks, for the restaurant business and for Anthony Bourdain. Medium Raw explores those changes, moving back and forth from the author’s bad old days to the present. Tracking his own strange and unexpected voyage from journeyman cook to globe-traveling professional eater and drinker, and even to fatherhood, Bourdain takes no prisoners as he dissects what he’s seen, pausing along the way for a series of confessions, rants, investigations, and interrogations of some of the most controversial figures in food.
Beginning with a secret and highly illegal after-hours gathering of powerful chefs that he compares to a mafia summit, Bourdain pulls back the curtain, but never pulls his punches, on the modern gastronomical revolution, as only he can. Cutting right to the bone, Bourdain sets his sights on some of the biggest names in the foodie world, including David Chang, the young superstar chef who has radicalized the fine-dining landscape; the revered Alice Waters, whom he treats with unapologetic frankness; the Top Chef winners and losers; and many more.
Always he returns to the question “Why cook?” Or the more difficult “Why cook well?” Medium Raw is the deliciously funny and shockingly delectable journey to those answers, sure to delight philistines and gourmands alike.
Pure Enjoyment This is the second book of Mr. Bourdain’s I have read; the first was Kitchen Confidential. I loved them both. Both were extremely irreverent and fun to read, and I finished this one with an new understanding of how hard the men and women in the restaurant kitchens of our country work. Mr. Bourdain allows the reader access to the many wild and hectic kitchens he has worked in, but he also gives us a glimpse of the other more personal parts of his life. I think I will always carry in my mind…
A heady dive into the mechanisms that motivate Anthony Bourdain First off, it should go without saying that people love Anthony Bourdain. His ineffable command of language drives the reader onwards making no attempt to soften the message nor dumb-down the Chef jargon.Bourdain speaks from his heart and speaks about what he knows, and he knows chefs. He knows what good food is and what good food isn’t. He’s a rogue, a “devil may care” romantic with a clear disdain for application of doing anything in life without passion.He pulls no…
True to its title, a (however beautifully written) list of loves and, mostly, hates First, I am HUGE Anthony Bourdain fan. I love watching all of his shows and I read Kitchen Confidential many years ago. He has a beautiful style of articulating his thoughts, and then mix those eloquent prose with his off the cuff, borderline inappropriate, honesty and it makes for really good stuff.This book had some very interesting parts, but it doesn’t follow a storyline. Once you read the book you realize how accurate the title is. It really is just a series of chapters of…