I figure this would belong here rather than /lit/ because I don't think many people there would have read it, but is it worth the read?
Also, I suppose you can discuss Bourdain and whatever else to keep this food related.
>>7269869
ya nah
It's 100% worth the read if you're in the industry or interested in the industry. Not because it's cool, or because the example set is something to aspire to, but because the contents are something you should be ready to expect at some point down the line.
yes, its a fun read. lots of good general information as well as interesting tidbits about the service industry. bourdain's a fun writer even if he comes off as pompous as fuck.
i ended up buying his les halles cookbook after and its an excellent beginner guide to cooking and complements the introductory stuff he mentions in confidential. never cooked mussels before that book and now make my broth and sauces that are way tastier than the store bought shit. the two books pair really well together.
>>7270637
>he comes off as pompous as fuck.
He does?
>>7270640
he has a general better than everyone attitude, especially when he talks about his years at a cooking school. downtalks other yuppie kids and seems to fail in noticing that he was one himself.
maybe im just remembering shit unfairly, its been a while since ive read the book. overall id have given it like an 8/10, its worth the read.
>>7270640
This is the issue for some readers. Kitchen Confidential is a hilarious read for anyone interested in the restaurant industry. Much of the book is laugh out loud funny.
Bourdain is a product of his time an place. He's a soft white kid from the suburbs who wanted to be a badass, and saw the kitchen as his path to being that. After graduating from CIA he moved to NYC and fully embraced the sex, drugs and rock and roll aesthetic. And he was just good enough at his job that pride (mixed with cocaine) often turned to hubris in his early career. Then he fucked up with the drugs, then had to build a career back, which he did.
So you have a guy who had a successful career in spite of himself because he was willing to work very hard to be good at what he did. But even when humbled by failure and addiction he never lost his arrogant, snarky 80's New York punkrock attitude. I love that about him, but it rubs some folks the wrong way.
>>7270765
He's a dick. But I still make his rack of lamb once a month, which is really nothing more than what every French woman since Marie Antoinette does.
>>7270784
>He's a dick.
That's a matter or perspective. I don't see being snarky, arrogant and generally superior attitude as being dickish IF you have the skills, knowledge and achievements to back up that kind of attitude. And even with all of his bluster he maintains a humility - he never claims to be better than a journeyman chef, and freely gives props to those far better than he is/was.
To me he's not the least bit of a dick, but his attitude is very much 80's NYC, and that has always rubbed some folks the wrong way. If you believe a man is supposed to be humble, never toot his own horn and keep his opinions to himself (especially the negative ones) you will find him abrasive. Being a New Yorker of a certain vintage I find I agree with him more often than not.
>>7270818
On "No Reservations" he left a cat to die in some South-East Asian jungle cave with nothing but insects and bats to eat.
>>7270860
I never realized how disgusting feral cats are until I stayed in Fez for a couple weeks and watched the scrawny little bastards eating garbage every day. Your beloved pet cat is special because it's your pet, not because it's a cat. Cats that are not anyone's pet are vermin that we tolerate because they tend to hunt and kill even worse vermin that shit in our food.
