Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

Product Details

The long-awaited follow-up to the megabestseller Kitchen Confidential

In the ten 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 these 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.

And 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.

• ISBN13: 9780061718946
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Customer Reviews ::

Bourdain's second best book - Erik Ketzan - Orbis Tertius
Should you buy Medium Raw? There's a pretty simple checklist:

* If you haven't read Kitchen Confidential, NO. Start there.

* If you loved Kitchen Confidential and have tracked down more Bourdain, YES. There's more glimpses into the weird and wild restaurant world, and Tony shares some of his most personal writing yet.

* If you (for better or worse) identify as a "foodie", YES. You'll impress all your friends over Pinot and pork belly by regurgitating opinions and facts from Tony's chapters on rising star David Chang, Top Chef, Le Bernardin, and much more.

* If you watch No Reservations mainly for the travel, then MAYBE. There's not much straight-up travel writing in here.

Otherwise, you may want to pass or wait for the paperback. Medium Raw is as uneven as its title, and I could see a general reader who enjoyed Kitchen Confidential grow bored with some of the less essential chapters, including Tony's ruminations on "selling out," his (15-page!) ad-hominem attack against New York Magazine food critic Alan Richman (reminiscent of Guns n Roses' "Get in the Ring," in which Axl called out music critics by name), and a predictable invective on cheeseburgers. But for fans of Bourdain-- and you know who you are-- Medium Raw is required reading. The few dud chapters aside, there's some essential writing in here. Anthony Bourdain's not only our best living writer on food, but one of our last real men of letters.