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

I was pretty psyched to hear about this book coming out, so on release day I plonked down my money at the local Border's bookstore (Albeit with a nice 40% coupon!) and grabbed my copy. I am a career restaurant and wine guy, so of course I love reading Bourdain's books which expose the side of restaurants that diners rarely see. What is nice about this book is that unlike Kitchen Confidential, this is more of a collection of stories and essays than a chronological recounting of a checkered restaurant career. I enjoyed this book more than Kitchen Confidential because it is better written and Bourdain includes lots of heartfelt and positive stories. Kitchen Confidential seemed to be a sort of autobiography, Medium Raw gives a lot of nods to others in the industry, people Bourdain has met and traveled with, and even his family. It seems that he has grown up. What I also like is that he is not preachy like Alice Waters or Micheal Pollan (though I love Pollan's books). Bourdain has always had at least one foot firmly planted in the real world. When he discusses the vexing problem of sub-par elementary school lunches, he also points out that funding is needed in other areas as well, including literature and mathematics programs. Also, Bourdain doesn't hold back any punches. He also doesn't just bash anybody or any particular restaurant that is undeserving. He does bash McDonald's (rightly so!), the James Beard Foundation, Alain Ducasse, and several two-faced restaurant critics. He also advocates chefs' creativity and applauds some of the little known and well respected (by their peers) chefs taking chances and producing amazing dishes from the best ingredients and not charging $400 per plate in what can be best described as a dining museum. He talks about travel, other cultures and their cuisine, and just about every other subject a foodie would possibly be interested in. After reading Kitchen Confidential, I felt kind of 'dirty' being a career restaurant guy, but after reading Medium Raw I discovered that there is a bright spot on the horizon of culinary creativity.

Overall, a fun and very fast read. Bourdain is reminiscent of Dennis Miller, and this book is a compilation of his "rants." He takes on various topics in no specific order, and offers up his opinion of them. Period. Peppered with lots of F-bombs and written without regard for perfect sentence structure, the reader gets the sense of his wry humor, cynycism, and especially passion about food, the people who create it, and the overall industry. I appreciated his frankness about his own shortcomings and "past mistakes", and the fact that he doesn't sugar coat anything or blame anyone but himself for his actions. How refreshing to finally encounter an individual who says he had a great childhood, loving, stable parents, does not consider his alcoholism to be a "disease", and acknowledges that he and he alone selected the path of self-ruin. One of my favorite chapters in the book is "I'm dancing", where he discusses how fatherhood has changed him and the aspirations he has for his daughter. Some things are no longer cool once you procreate, he notes. He seems to take this new responsibility seriously. He pulls no punches when discussing individuals for whom he has absolute disdain, such as Alan Richman, but even these individuals get their props when and where he feels they are due. It almost feels like a small crutch he can lean on, so as to not be accused of absolute obliteration. He has truly reached the enviable position of, as he claims, "not having a restaurant or reputation he needs to protect" and the freedom to call it as he sees it. I read Kitchen Confidential years ago and loved it. This book made me want to go back and read it again and compare the younger, angrier Bourdain with the older, perhaps wiser and slightly more refined individual he has become. I look forward to more from him.

Tony does not, for the most part, pull any punches. For the record, Sandra Lee terrifies me too. He doesn't divulge Bigfoot's identity, but for the most part, does name names. I especially liked the chapter on heros and villains. His takedown of Alan Richman is priceless. The bottom line with Mr. Bourdain is that he really cares about food and the people who prepare it, whether it's the guy in the Czech Republic who stuffs sausages with his bare hands, or the man who cuts the fish at Le Bernardin. Food is too important to leave to the Rachael Rays and Sandra Lees of the world. We need fewer people clamoring about EVOO and more people cooking and eating a well-executed omelet or a good simple tomato sauce. Start reading this on a Friday. It will last most of the weekend, and when you're finished, you'll be eager for the next course. I don't know how many more of these Tony has in him, but I'm waiting for the next one.

Anthony Bourdain's previous collection "Nasty Bits" felt like a watered-down overcooked rehash of his original shtick. His new one, "Medium Raw," is a true revival. Bourdain has shaken off the cashmere of complacency to don a Viking bear-shirt of rage, and even though he takes stabs at familiar targets--TV, the corporations and the rich--he has come up with bloody fresh reasons to hate them (which is something.) His jokes are disturbing, his horrors hilarious, his meals orgasmic: his food descriptions are as far beyond crass culinary porn as Caravaggio and Boticelli are beyond "Jugs." Schlosser and Pollan may better connect food to economics and politics; Bourdain is supreme at plugging it to the gonads and guts. No one better demonstrates that food is part of life. This book makes both more interesting.

I love the book. It's about everything that is wrong with network foodism and everything that is right with real people, real chefs and real world perspectives on the world that surrounds us. Absolutely amazing book, I read it in it's entirety in the first 24 hours.