Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain

If my enjoyment of this book was analogous to the late Anthony Bourdain being up to bat at a baseball game, it would go something like this.

Pitch 1.....

There appears to be a lot of hyper-masculine posturing to his writing, everything from talking about how badass every kitchen is (apparently all kitchen workers are drug addicted, tattoo'd, burn resistant handed badasses), to sexual prowess (ironically, Bourdain's only direct sexual "encounter" was the cook he was working with mock fingering his ass through his pants - not something to be proud of), to the fact that he will not let anyone listen to Billy Joel or Elton John in his kitchen.  Not to mention his disdain for vegetarianism.  Strike 1

Pitch 2.....

He does, however, occasionally exercise some humility and reverence when referring to chefs or people he admires.  Ball 1

Pitch 3......

He slams celebrity chefs like Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay, but I still don't understand why he doesn't like them - perhaps he thinks their craft is compromised by commercialism, but then he hypocritically says that had he been at a certain level, maybe he'd be a Food Network star too.  Strike 2

Pitch 4......

Shit, I can't remember where I was going with this whole analogy thing, nor do I have any more opinions about this book.  I think his arrogance put me off a little bit, and I wonder if he judiciously exercised hyperbole.  Nonetheless, I think if I were uninitiated, I would have found some of the things he talked about shocking and interesting, but I got the gist of kitchen life through Sous Chef, which was a very similar read, only without the arrogance.

Sadly, Bourdain is no longer with us, having taken his own life.  I wish he was able to conquer his demons and/or his drug use.

It was a fairly enjoyable book to read from the perspective of being interesting, but as far as personalities go, and delving into the mind of someone to be inspired by, I think I prefer reading more positive approaches to life, from bios by people like Shep Gordon, Leah Remini, etc.