A lot has changed since Kitchen Confidential - 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-travelling professional eater and drinker, Bourdain compares and contrasts what he's seen and what he's seeing, pausing along the way for a series of confessions, rants, investigations, and interrogations of some of the most controversial figures in food. And always he returns to the question: 'Why cook?' Or the harder one to answer: 'Why cook well?' Beginning with a secret and highly illegal after-hours gathering of powerful chefs he compares to a Mafia summit, Bourdain, in his distinctive, no-holds-barred style, cuts to the bone on every subject he tackles.
Medium Raw
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Praise for 'Kitchen Confidential' 'Elizabeth David written by Quentin Tarantino' A.A. Gill 'A compelling book with its intriguing mix of clever writing and kitchen patois ... more horrifically gripping than a Stephen King novel' Sunday Times 'Fantastic: as lip-smackingly seductive as a bowl of fat chips and pungent aioli' Daily Telegraph
Book Description
Anthony Bourdain's long-awaited sequel to Kitchen Confidential, the worldwide bestseller
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By A. Miles
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
Medium Raw is subtitled 'A Bloody Valentine To The World Of Food And The People Who Cook' an unwieldy sentence which doesn't actually mean very much, and means even less when you read the book: Medium Raw is a collection of leftovers, chopped up and shaped into book form, and deep fried in marketing hype. I had gotten the impression this was going to be an autobiography of Mr. Bourdain's post 'Kitchen Confidential' years, but there's no cohesive thread to the book at all: It ranges from a diatribe against tasting menus to a piece about taking his four-year old daughter to dance class. There are some meaty bits amongst all the starchy filler - Bourdain is wonderful at writing about food and the food industry - but a lot of it is inexcusably self-indulgent: an entire chapter is devoted to dishing the dirt on an obscure (to non-New Yorkers, anyway)food critic who's insulted Bourdain in a restaurant review: Another piece 'Heroes and Villains' reads like it was knocked up in a few hours purely to fill up a few more pages. In short, there's just not enough meat on the plate here to justify charging for a full meal.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Deano
Format:Hardcover
I have been an admirer of Anthony Bourdain since the release of 'Kitchen Confidential' ten years ago. His writing is always good, whether in his fiction, his travel writing or in memoir. It is, however, when writing about cooks and cooking that his prose comes truly alive. His passion for food and those involved in its preparation, from the imagination required to produce a tasting menu at the French Laundry to the mental stamina and physical skill involved in `cutting' 700lbs of fish in 5 hours, has not diminished over the years. If anything, the personal and professional changes in his life, and they have been startling, have fired his enthusiasm and, in some memorable instances, his anger. The `Heroes & Villains' chapter is a delight to read not least because he can turn a phrase, but because he is unafraid when choosing his targets and the language used to skewer them.
The chapter on `Virtue' is a stand out because it acts as neat summation of the sensibility of an intelligent sensualist. Writing about food and the pleasure associated with eating and cooking is, as Anthony Bourdain points out, extremely difficult without resorting to the banalities of `food porn' so ubiquitous in the culture. In 'Medium Raw' he avoids cliché or cheap observations to produce a fresh, honest and thoughtful take on subjects that ought to be of interest to everyone. Buy copies for yourself and people you like.
The chapter on `Virtue' is a stand out because it acts as neat summation of the sensibility of an intelligent sensualist. Writing about food and the pleasure associated with eating and cooking is, as Anthony Bourdain points out, extremely difficult without resorting to the banalities of `food porn' so ubiquitous in the culture. In 'Medium Raw' he avoids cliché or cheap observations to produce a fresh, honest and thoughtful take on subjects that ought to be of interest to everyone. Buy copies for yourself and people you like.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Say what you want about this book, the author's passion for food shines through. So, foodies will love much about this book. Those who enjoy being in the know about restaurateurs and chefs will also be over the moon with this book. Those who enjoy a well-written book, however, will be disappointed.
Written as a series of essays that don't necessarily mesh and filled with four letter expletives throughout, the book is a bit of a slog. Our potty-mouthed author could certainly have used the services of a good editor to give this book a little more polish. It is written as if the author needed money and dashed off this book, a jumble of thoughts not all that cohesively put together.
While the author's innate, self-deprecating charm comes through, and he certainly has a lot of inside poop and opinions on many of the dominant figures in the world of chefs and restaurants, it somehow gets a little lost in the stream of consciousness approach to this book. Consequently, the author and the book come off as self-indulgent rather than colorful.
If you are a foodie, you will want to read this book. Do yourself a favor, however, and borrow it from the library rather than buy it.
Written as a series of essays that don't necessarily mesh and filled with four letter expletives throughout, the book is a bit of a slog. Our potty-mouthed author could certainly have used the services of a good editor to give this book a little more polish. It is written as if the author needed money and dashed off this book, a jumble of thoughts not all that cohesively put together.
While the author's innate, self-deprecating charm comes through, and he certainly has a lot of inside poop and opinions on many of the dominant figures in the world of chefs and restaurants, it somehow gets a little lost in the stream of consciousness approach to this book. Consequently, the author and the book come off as self-indulgent rather than colorful.
If you are a foodie, you will want to read this book. Do yourself a favor, however, and borrow it from the library rather than buy it.
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3.8 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Its not really as bad as you might think
You either like Anthony Bourdain or you do not, It really is a simple as that I'm afraid.
Me I love him.
Me I love him.
Published 5 months ago by stoveboy78
4.0 out of 5 stars
I liked it. Not as good as his first though.
If you're obsessed with celebrity chefs, then this is a good read. If not, stick to his classic Kitchen Confidential which was far more exciting. A hard book to follow I guess.
Published 13 months ago by Lara
4.0 out of 5 stars
Amusing and Tart...
It seems folks either like this book or hate it..I happen to be one of those who enjoyed it: Quite a bit actually. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Mark C. Hall
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Bourdain
If you like this guy don't miss his latest book. My husband and I are hooked on everything he does - he's a bit edgy, treads paths others don't and, for me of course, he is simply... Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2011 by Veronica Lyons
2.0 out of 5 stars
Has NOTHING to say!
A Bourdain has nothing to say in this book. Read K Confidential, A Cook's Tour, and The Nasty Bits. NOT this one.
Published on 30 Oct 2010 by Jonas S. Mathiesen
4.0 out of 5 stars
He's calmed down a bit
This is the follow-up to 'Kitchen Confidential', a book that contained rage not just at circumstances, but at life itself - that was a book full of dark joy, and the energy needed... Read more
Published on 3 Oct 2010 by L. Hennessy
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Raw & the Cooked
Bourdain is a great writer, his style is all his, blunt, honest & he takes no prisoners. If you're a fan of the kitchen underbelly, then you'll surely enjoy this new book from him.
Published on 23 Aug 2010 by White House Wanaka Ltd
4.0 out of 5 stars
If you liked 'The Nasty Bits', you will love this.
Before you buy this be warned. This is NOT the sequel to Kitchen Confidential. It sort of gives the impression it is, hence four stars not five. Read more
Published on 18 July 2010 by M. Page
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not as expected
This book was not quite as expected, I was thinking it would be along the lines of Kitchen Confidential, It wasn't not by a long way.... Read more
Published on 30 Jun 2010 by N. welch
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