Medium Raw

I genuinely believe that the reason no controversy came up about Bourdain after his death is because he already revealed all the things that anyone could have tried to dig up. He wrote so honestly, exposing himself and his soft underbelly. I love the way he writes about food. I love the way he writes about his friends and foes. I miss New York and his voice as I read.

Bourdain was a brilliant and eloquent observer who could be found mincing many things except words, and his fans, myself included, loved him for it. His fascination with and simultaneous disdain for humanity matches my own and so, when I read or watch the things he's written and produced, I feel not so much entertained as I feel seen. For that, I'll be forever grateful.

I always found Anthony Bourdain to be interesting. I did not realize he suffered from suicidal thoughts from such an early age. This book is just like him. It's tough, yet tender, it exaggerated and real, and I loved every minute of the it. Anthony died last year and I was very sad when I finished this book. I'm sure he had so much more to share with this world.

Ik heb [b:Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly 33313 Kitchen Confidential Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly Anthony Bourdain https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1433739086s/33313.jpg 4219] graag gelezen, en ik zie die mens graag bezig op tv.Medium Raw is een vervolg op Kitchen Confidential: nog altijd even stream of consciousness, maar wel van een volledig andere mens. Waar het eerste boek geschreven is door iemand die beseft dat hij ergens in de veertig is, en dat hij geboren is met alle mogelijke kansen en mogelijkheden, maar dat hij na een hele reeks verkeerde keuzes (gemakszucht, drugs, drank) eigenlijk in een doodlopende straat, is dit een boek van iemand die totaal onverwacht zijn wildste dromen kan waarmaken.Hij werd een bekende Amerikaan, kreeg tv-programma's, reisde de wereld af, werd vrienden met de grootste koks ter wereld. En ergens tussen dan en nu is heeft hij zijn leren vest aan de haak gehangen, heeft hij een gezin geticht, en is hij milder geworden. Op simmige vlakken, dan toch.Bourdain is op zijn best als hij observeert, of het nu de ochtend van een visfileerder in een sterrenrestaustarant is, of die keer dat hij (post-beroemd-worden) het nadir had bereikt ergens in een subtropisch paradijs, en met een ‘rich bitch' de wereld van échte rijke mensen zag.En voor de rest meandert het. Meandert het zeer veel. Maar is het wel wijs om lezen.

I must begin my review by stating that I love Anthony Bourdain. There is very little that he has done or said in his career that I didn't find true or amusing, or both. And I think that Medium Raw is excellent. He is honest, both about the people he thinks are wrong and about himself. No one is safe from his critiques, but he isn't just spewing vitriol or haphazardly calling people douchebags. There is a method to his madness. He is equally negative and positive in his critiques and while he may think that Alice Waters should probably retire her gardens for schools idea he thinks her heart is in the right place. When he names someone a villain he has a reason and a good one at that.

He does a quick ‘where are they now' for the co-stars of Kitchen Confidential and it makes me want to go back and read it all over again. He admits that there is no way he can hack it on the line anymore. He talks a lot about starting his career moving away from the kitchen and in front of the camera. He discusses why Food Network is evil and David Chang is brilliant and a maniac. He validates that Top Chef really is the only cooking competition show on TV worth watching. ;) I loved every word.

Nick and I listened to this audiobook as we drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Over dinner that night we talked about the book, and both of us were very reluctant to say the truth: we didn't really like it. We danced around it a bit, but in the end it had to be said. Both of us had a big problem with the narrative - it jumped all over the place with no notable pattern to keep it together. Judging from some of the reviews, it's actually a collection of essays rather than a narrative book, which I did not realize. Perhaps this would have been obvious if I was reading it instead of listening, but in the audio format the essay style just comes off as messy.

My other criticism is that it was so negative and complainy (is that a word?). Yes, I know this is Anthony Bourdain. I loved “No Reservations”, “Kitchen Confidential”, and he's one of my favorite guest judges on Top Chef - I am very aware that snide and complainy is what he does. But this was just so over the top, it felt like someone doing a caricature of Anthony Bourdain. It was exhausting and annoying, which isn't good for a 6 hour drive.

The good: there is one part where he goes into food porn mode, giving sizzling glimpses of food encounters that are great individually but layer together to make something magical (like eating figs, then eating them with prosciutto). Far and away the best part of the book. Be careful though, because hearing this section when you are surrounded by Wendy's and Subways and Pizza Hut To-Gos might just make you crazy.