Kitchen Confidential

Spoilers & Trigger Warnings

I have wanted to read this book for a long time. I began following Anthony Bourdain with his TV show No Reservations. I appreciated his every-man persona and direct way of talking. I liked the way he sought food for its flavor and not because of high-brow concepts or artistic plating.

Bourdain used his acclaim and notoriety to promote what he called traditional or peasant food. He advocated for broader adoption of lesser-used cuts of meat and for being more adventurous in your culinary experiences. The novel highlights this early on when he recounts his first experience eating oysters.

Listening to him speak, it was easy to pick up Bourdain's passion for food. He was also an unrelenting supporter of equality across the board. He fought for the equal rights of women, non-whites, and those oppressed around the globe. His writing was cited by David Klion of The Nation as truthful, challenging to those in power, and used to expose wrongdoings, but not in a way that was tedious or grim.

Bourdain began his career after dropping out of Vassar College and finding employment in Provincetown, MA, at various local seafood restaurants. He explains these kitchen crews as pirate-like, full of rowdiness and bravado. When one of these restaurants hosted a wedding reception and the blushing bride came out back to have sex with the chef bent over the garbage bin in the back alley in full view of the entire kitchen crew, Bourdain knew what career he wanted to pursue.

Anthony does not hold back in turning his critical eye upon himself. He openly discusses his debauched lifestyle and various addictions. There were many addictions to be discussed. Bourdain reveals that over the years he dealt with addiction to cigarettes, marijuana, alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines, and heroin, among others.

Chef Bourdain used this novel to expand on a popular article he had published in the New Yorker titled "Don't Eat Before Reading This". In these works, he reveals secrets held close by the culinary world for years. Things were told like you should never order seafood from a restaurant on a Tuesday because these foodstuffs have likely been sitting in refrigeration since Friday. You should never order Hollandaise sauce, as it must be kept at a specific temperature to avoid breaking, and thus it is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria.

Telling these secrets was akin to The Masked Magician revealing the secrets of magic. Professional chefs and restaurant owners were incensed by his revelations. Many claimed these things were untrue, while others like Jacques Pepin acknowledged much of what Bourdain said was true.

Bourdain also revealed that he preferred hiring Latino line cooks with experience over fresh college graduate Americans. The Latinos in his experience were easier to get along with and performed at exceedingly higher levels. Owners preferred hiring the Latino cooks as well because they could be paid a lower wage. He states he enjoys working with women, as it is rare to find one willing to subject themselves to the type of atmosphere found in a professional kitchen among mostly male counterparts.

It should be noted here that many of these issues are not the case today. The labor in professional kitchens is typically held to a higher standard now, and thanks to people like Anthony Bourdain, treatment and pay are more fair now than ever.

Chef Bourdain enlightens readers to the more mundane aspects of being a chef. He discusses topics ranging from how to manage food costs to dealing with personal disputes among staff. One of the key traits for a good professional cook is consistency. You must show up every day and be able to work through any situation while maintaining an exacting level of attention to detail.

He is open about the amount of stress having a job like this can put upon a person. You must work brutally long days in an unpleasant environment. Working through pain and illness is expected. Pushing yourself to the limit of your physical and mental capabilities is the minimum requirement. He reveals how detrimental this chosen profession has been to him. It has caused him to have severe depression and drug dependence issues.

It was refreshing to me to see that people with outstanding success can still feel these things. I feel less alone knowing that other people, better off than me, can suffer these negative feelings. I find myself in poor mental states and have sought medical help. I now take an antidepressant daily, and it helps me feel less overwhelmed by darker thoughts.

Towards the end of chapter twenty-three, Bourdain talks about a chef-friend of his who had to fire an employee who committed suicide afterwards. Anthony is brutal in discussing his feelings about the suicide. He expresses zero remorse and says his friend should as well. This man had to be let go as his attitude was affecting the kitchen, and once he leaves work, he is no longer the responsibility of the chef.

I was saddened in 2018 when I learned that Anthony Bourdain had died by hanging himself in a hotel room in France. It was later revealed that he had been in a heated exchange of text messages with his then-girlfriend Asia Argento, and she had ended their relationship days earlier. At the time of his death, Bourdain was 61.

Anthony was a champion of the downtrodden. He was not afraid to speak truth to power, even turning that tongue upon himself. I admired his ability to be honest and fair without seeming preachy or condescending. He taught me to be more open to the foods of other cultures and to know when and when not to take chances with new culinary experiences.

I value Chef Bourdain for his contribution to my own culinary education. However, I find a portion of his personality to be troubling. He was prone to addiction, and he treated people who worked for him as valuable solely if they were beneficial to him. I did not care for his self-important attitude and the fast-paced lifestyle he led, but those are also the same qualities that made him excel at being a chef.

The novel flies through time and makes the life of a professional chef seem somehow both glamorous and horrific. I felt horrified at some practices in professional kitchens, while Chef Bourdain made me want to push my culinary boundaries further than ever before. This story is definitely worth reading if you ask me. I’d give it seven out of ten.

I challenge you to go out and eat something new this month (any month you may read this). Do something adventurous with your dining. Experience food with no reservations. If you or anyone you know is struggling with mental health issues, please seek help. Call or text 988 in the US or find mental health resources online.