Medium Raw A Bloody Valentine To The World Of Food And The People Who Cook

Paperback, 281 pages

Published June 8, 2011 by Ecco Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-171895-3

(1 review)

[From back cover] In the ten years Since Anthony Bourdain's Classic Kitchen Confidential first alerted us to the idiosyncrasies and lurking perils of eating out, much has changed for the subculture of chefs and cooks, for the restaurant business--and for Anthony Bourdain.

Medium Raw tracks Bourdain's unexpected voyage from journeyman cook to globe-traveling professional eater and drinker, and even fatherhood, in a series of take-no-prisoners confessions, rants, investigations, and interrogations of some of the most controversial figures in food.

Beginning with a secret, 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. 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; the revered Alice Waters; the Top Chef contestants; and many more. Medium Raw is …

[From back cover] In the ten years Since Anthony Bourdain's Classic Kitchen Confidential first alerted us to the idiosyncrasies and lurking perils of eating out, much has changed for the subculture of chefs and cooks, for the restaurant business--and for Anthony Bourdain.

Medium Raw tracks Bourdain's unexpected voyage from journeyman cook to globe-traveling professional eater and drinker, and even fatherhood, in a series of take-no-prisoners confessions, rants, investigations, and interrogations of some of the most controversial figures in food.

Beginning with a secret, 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. 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; the revered Alice Waters; the Top Chef contestants; and many more. Medium Raw is the deliciously funny, shockingly delectable result, sure to delight philistines and gourmands alike.

1 edition

knordstrom@ramblingreaders.org reviewed Medium Raw A Bloody Valentine To The World Of Food And The People Who Cook by Anthony Bourdain

Medium Raw

5 stars

Anthony Bourdain speaks his mind about numerous people an practices in the Restaurant industry. However it also provides better context, changes of (or more developed) opinions from his prior work Kitchen Confidential<\i> and talks at length his opinions about the state of food in the US (or at least as of 2010).

Some topics now will be dated which left me wondering if we ever managed to avoid catastrophy or if we just gave up completely since then. However the book is timeless as a way to see into the thought processes and beliefs of Bourdain at the time that the book was written and published.

And of course as of 2018, Bourdain is no longer with us, so some topics presented in the book can take a very different feel with hindsight.

Anthony Bourdain speaks his mind about numerous people an practices in the Restaurant industry. However it also provides better context, changes of (or more developed) opinions from his prior work Kitchen Confidential<\i> and talks at length his opinions about the state of food in the US (or at least as of 2010).

Some topics now will be dated which left me wondering if we ever managed to avoid catastrophy or if we just gave up completely since then. However the book is timeless as a way to see into the thought processes and beliefs of Bourdain at the time that the book was written and published.

And of course as of 2018, Bourdain is no longer with us, so some topics presented in the book can take a very different feel with hindsight.