Review: Anthony Bourdain's _Kitchen Confidential:_ -- just -what- are you eating anyway?

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I and this book have been sizing each other up for a while. I'd heard a lot of scary stories, things that made me shudder just to contemplate, never mind actually reading about. But -- well, those of you who know me, also know that I am a food junkie. I've never smoked, gave up strong drink some time ago, and tend to be rather simple in my tastes. But, oh, how nice it is when I can get a good meal. I tend to get a daily fix of FoodTV now and then, especially Alton Brown, maybe Emeril, Iron Chef when I want to see some real silliness, and just about anything that catches my eye. Those delicious sauces just waiting to be drizzled over a waiting duck breast or filet make me swoon. I'm not even going to touch chocolate, you wouldn't be able to shut me up. I'm going to point out right here and now that Anthony Bourdain has managed to dispell any notion or fantasy that I have of the culinary industry being a santitary business or that the workers within are the sort you don't mind sitting down to dinner or cocktails with. I've learned to NEVER order the 'special', order fish on a Monday, always check out the restroom (if anything looks or smells odd, I leave, right then or there), and generally keep my eyes and ears open. This is a memoir that chronicles Bourdain's travels from being a lowlife newbie in a fish restaurant in Provincetown on Cape Cod, to his life at Les Halles in New York City. He's frank, honest and in your face. The language at times is coarse, as well as the action -- these are people scrabbling for existence in a life that is desparate to say the very least. It seems that the cooking industry attracts individuals that have severe personality problems, problems with the law, with drugs, with drink, with the Mob, you name it. Bourdain's prose is edgy, profane, and graphic -- if not obscene. He describes a noisy, loud, dangerous (get any professional cook to show you his hands and start counting the scars) profession that demands everything from those who work it. His contempt for the current craze of tv-chefs is scathing, especially when directed at Emeril or Bobby Flay. But his respect for the three and four star chefs is unmistakeable too -- Bourdain knows where his faults lie, and isn't ashamed to admit it either. He's also honest about his own problem with authority and drugs, not especially in that order. Two chapters in this book are useable for anyone, the one entitled "How to Cook Like the Pros" and "Bigfoot"; -- which goes into the art of managing people -- which will delight and give some practical information to the reader. Others include details of how a chef's day is spent, the education you can get at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America), and other views on eating well. For anyone wanting a good laugh, is a gourmand or gourmet, or is considering a career in the culinary arts, take a peek at this one. Your eyes will be opened. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly Anthony Bourdain 2001; Ecco ISBN 978-0-0608-9922-6 (This review was previously posted on a now defunct site in 2002. Copywrite 2018 by Rebecca Huston. Don't steal my work.)