Medium Raw audiobook

Well, this was always going to be a bittersweet read. It still seems surreal that this vibrant man with such a curiosity for the world is not a part of it any longer, but his legacy lives on. He doesn't hold back, but is far more thoughtful and measured than in Kitchen Confidential. Certainly recommended, especially for fans of his shows and previous writing!Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com

"I have long believed that it is only right and appropriate that before one sleeps with someone, one should be able—if called upon to do so—to make them a proper omelet in the morning. Surely that kind of civility and selflessness would be both good manners and good for the world. Perhaps omelet skills should be learned at the same time you learn to fuck. Perhaps there should be an unspoken agreement that in the event of loss of virginity, the more experienced of the partners should, afterward, make the other an omelet—passing along the skill at an important and presumably memorable moment."Amen, my love."Medium Raw" is the best possible title Bourdain could have given this book : it was written by a much mellower man than the one who (I like to picture) furiously scribbled "Kitchen Confidential" (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... a more mature person, who has taken a step back and did a decent amount of soul-searching. But because Anthony Bourdain is Anthony Bourdain, he serves his introspection like… well, not quite a slap in the face, but there’s no point in expecting subtlety or sugar-coating here.While it is not quite a sequel, it’s definitely preferable to have read “Kitchen Confidential” before you get into “Medium Raw”, as Bourdain reflects back on who he was when that first book was published and how much things have changed (in his life and in the cooking world) since. You’ll lose a lot of context if you are not familiar with the first book, but to be honest, I like this one better. They should come as a set.I was planning on keeping this as my bedside book, and to just read a few pages before bed for a few days, but that was underestimating how much I fucking love reading anything Bourdain wrote. Once I cracked it open, there was no stopping, or prying the book out of my hands. Reading Bourdain is an interesting experience for me because it makes me laugh, it makes me think about things may never have crossed my mind if it hadn’t been for his books, and I often find it very moving because he was not afraid to expose himself, flaws and all; I can’t help but find that combination incredibly sexy.“Medium Raw” is a rant, a confession, a manifesto. It’s not always pretty, but it’s always passionate and unapologetic – which is absolutely beautiful. It starts with a surreal story about eating ortolans, then hops from topic to topic: hitting rock bottom on a Caribbean island, whoring out to the Food Network and dealing with it, why culinary school might be a huge mistake, a statement about why cooking is a life skill literally everyone should master, a rant about the God-given right to a hamburger that won't kill you, his own very particular brand of fatherhood, a laundry list of people in the food world he loves and of those he can't stand. Every subject is dissected with insight, wit and enthusiasm.I thought I couldn’t fall in love with the man any harder after reading “A Cook’s Tour” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) and binging “Parts Unknown” on Netflix; I was wrong. His way with words, the wonderfully twisted workings of his mind, his way of looking at the world and never averting his eye: reading this book made me melt. Sure, he was a cantankerous, world-weary recovered junkie, but I also can’t think of another non-fiction writer who has the kindness and authenticity he put on the page. The rude, cranky thing feels to me like an armor to hide a romantic and idealistic nature that the fucked up world we live in disappointed repeatedly. I get it, and this magnificent crazy man will always have a piece of my heart.If you like Bourdain's style, his shows or his other books, don't miss this one!---Call me a sap, but reading this made me much more emotional than I had anticipated. My brand spanking new copy is clearly fresh off the press because in the little “about the author” blurb on the flyleaf, the publisher added the heartbreaking (for me, at least) line: “He died in 2018”. I confess a moment of true anger at the publishing industry’s callous cashing in: let’s republish his entire body of work, now that he’s dead, the sales will skyrocket! And here I am feeding the vultures! Once I calmed down from this moment of anarchist rage, I was simply grateful for the amazing word porn I held in my hands. But a bit of sadness and anger remains mixed in...---Additional comment regarding the audiobook: my husband and I listened to it on the long drive between Rochester and Montréal, and it's amazing, as you could expect as it is read by Bourdain. That voice!

Excellent continuation of Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. Like chapters about other chefs and their techniques.

I can't explain how heartbreaking it is that the last sentence of this heartfelt love letter to food is "We're still here." Damn. Rest in Peace you wonderfully crazy man. Rest in peace... 5 Delicious Stars

Chalk one up to Anthony Bourdain once again, as he presents a witty and insightful view of the culinary world. In Medium Raw Bourdain discusses the changes that have taken place in the subculture of chefs and cooks, the restaurant business, and in his own life during the ten years since her banged out his mega best selling book, Kitchen Confidential .Bourdain admits no longer can he call himself "chef", especially after filming an episode of "No Reservations" in which he went back to his old stomping grounds at Brasserie Les Halles, and once again worked his station for a day. This episode it is a definite reminder, "ya never can go back", as he finds his knees and joints no longer willing to accept the abuse of constant bending to get into the low-boy refrigerator, and his aging eyes unable to read the requests sent to his station because of fogged glasses or grease streaked lenses. Medium Raw discusses the transformation he has gone through, from angry journeyman cook to globe-traveling professional eater/drinker and how it has brought him in contact with some of the top creative minds in the food world (Eric Ripert, Thomas Keller, Ferran Adrià, Fergus Henderson, Marco Pierre White, and Mario Batali) praising them for their love of ingredients and cutting edge development of new dishes. He apologizes for remarks about Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay, explaining that he now has a better understanding of what they have gone through to reach the level they are at as TV celebrity chefs. Also, he explains why he has serious disdain for food demigods like Alan Richman, Alice Waters, and Alain Ducasse.Unlike previous books he has written which were very direct with liberal use of profanity and sexual references, the reader gets a feeling that Bourdain has accepted his new role and is embracing a "kinder, gentler Tony". Could this be the result of fatherhood? In fact, my favorite chapters in the book deal with the relationship he has with his 3-year-old daughter and how it has changed his outlook on the world. No longer is he the rebel who does as he pleases, trading his leather jacket for a more "fatherly" look, making sure his behavior doesn't land him on any celebrity websites, and not being embarassed to be seen dancing with her and her little friends. But again Bourdain is Bourdain, as he points out how he is teaching his child to see American fast-food culture as he does... as the enemy. Telling her that Ronald McDonald "has cooties and stinks like...poo".If you are a "foodie", enjoy seeing and hearing his opinion as a judge on "Top Chef", would like to find out about the man behind Kitchen Confidential , or just want to see why everyone is talking about him, you will definitely enjoy this book.

I'll admit it--I'm not much of a foodie, and I've never been a close follower of Anthony Bourdain. I've seen a few great episodes of "No Reservations," but I've never gotten around to reading Kitchen Confidential. There's no doubt, however, that the man can write. Fans will undoubtedly salivate over Medium Raw, a book that is less a linear narrative and more a series of essays, some of them personal (about his new family life, for instance) but most of them taking aim at the modern food world: the double-edged sword that is Alice Waters; a look inside the ever complex mind of chef David Chang, which almost reads like a New Yorker profile; the precariousness of the restaurant business in post-meltdown America; the highs and lows of the Top Chef winners and losers; a chapter of Bourdain's favorite meals that he's had around the world--truly some of the most fantastic food porn penned in recent memory; and a chapter called "Alan Richman is a Douchebag," a spectacular takedown of the food writer and critic. Of course, there's plenty of scathing prose throughout, and enough jabs to delight even the most seasoned Bourdain fans. But each chapter is part of a larger conversation Bourdain's having with himself, and he always returns to the implication of the question that ties the book together: Why, today, does it matter to cook well?

Is it bad to say I enjoyed this more than Kitchen Confidential?Anthony Bourdain wrote with scathing honesty. Some people perceived that as rude, or ungrateful, but I simply can’t agree. Here was a man that knew what he was passionate about and remained intellectually curious enough to question his own beliefs. Anthony Bourdain spends these pages poking and prodding not just the world and his peers, but also himself. He’s the kind of flawed, vibrant protagonist you have to admire.And that’s why I prefer this book to Kitchen Confidential: we come to see Bourdain as he really was, a constant work in progress. This collection combines the linguistic skill of Kitchen Confidential with a more mature, more refined outlook. And it also made me miss Anthony Bourdain even more than the first.

I’ve been wanting to revisit Bourdain’s nonfiction, but previously hadn’t felt up to it. THE LAST INTERVIEW was published Tues, so I started that, and decided to reread Medium Raw. It sounds dramatic and cheesy, but I think I’m finally mourning. He touched his fans deeply. In this collection he backtracks a little on Kitchen Confidential; growth and CYA. 😂 Plus many more culinary delights. Hearing his voice was tough, but this is a nice collection.

By now, pretty much anyone with an interest in popular culture, food or books knows who Anthony Bourdain is. With his wildly successful debut nonfiction title, Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain burst onto the literary scene with an acerbic, profane and hilarious voice all his own. Lambasting the industry he made a career in for 28 years while at the same time baring his own addictions and shortcomings, Bourdain rightly became a darling of the very people he tore apart. He translated this success into a series of television shows that centered not on his cooking skills but rather his love of travel, exploring and experiencing other cultures through their food. In the process, he transcended both the genre and the medium. Ten years latr, if anyone wondered whether this level of success would mellow Bourdain, Medium Raw is another emphatic "Fuck no!" to that question. In a series of loosely connected essays, Bourdain continues to marshal his considerable storytelling skills to disembowel the current state of gastronomy, laying out on the cutting board the celebrity chefs, the heroes and villains of the industry, the bloggers, tv show hosts, rich bitch ex girlfriends and media CEOs, all the while poking and prodding at the ridiculous(Alice Waters' hypocritical "slow food" dinners for which she trucks in food from 6 hours away and flies in chefs from across the country) and the status quo(ripping to threads the entrenched GQ food critic Alan Richman, where Bourdain starts the essay calling Richman an asshole and culminates with him calling the man a cunt).Bourdain obviously revels in his ability to inflame his critics. Case in point: his opening salvo, a lush, nearly pornographic account of a furtive dinner he attends with other chef celebrities where he's served the decadent and illegal ortolan bunting (an ancient French peasant dish that consists of a fattened endangered baby bird drowned [literally] in licquer. In an elaborate and ritualistic dinner, the chick is eaten whole, headfirst, organs, bones and head intact and with the diner's head shrouded by a napkin, to savor the aroma and it's said, to hide one's face from God.) Or take his withering attack on vegetarianism and veganism, in the form of a venomous email to a friend, rightly questioning his friend's (and by proxy, the movement's) prioritizing animal suffering over human suffering. In the process, he skewers the Hindu veneration of the cow which often results in the animals wandering hungrily into cities and devouring plastic bags, dying slow painful deaths as the indigestible plastic winds its way through the beast's digestive system.Despite the in your face punk bravado of Bourdain's prose, his credo is ultimately a down to earth humanism that shines through all his essays. Take his piece about Justo Thomas, the fish butcher of the Michelin starred fine dining establishment, Le Bernardin. Bourdain spends a day at work with the older immigrant worker as he dresses and preps 700 pounds of fish to Eric Ripert's highly exacting standards. So impressed by Thomas' skills and work ethic is Bourdain (always quick to extol the virtues of the unsung toiling masses behind the scenes in every restaurant, from the local taco joint to the French Laundry) that he treats the man to dinner at Le Bernardin. This is an especially touching part of the book, showing both the compassion and the camaraderie Bourdain feels for those whose work he admires. Though never apologizing for his success or wealth, Bourdain obviously respects those who make a pittance and could never afford to eat where they work.It goes without saying that this is not everyone's osso bucco. If you're thin skinned and cling particularly hard to a dogma that Bourdain opposes, you probably already dislike this book and the man himself. If you cringe at Bourdain's easy and prolific use of even the most reviled profanities and obscenities, don't bother opening the book at all. If you pale at frank references to hard drug use by a recovered drug abuser who unapologetically still gets hammered on a regular basis, this book is not for you. If you have a problem with a sensual enjoyment of food that borders on- and often drunkenly stumbles into- the hedonistic, look elsewhere.But if, like me, you crack the book knowing exactly what to expect, you'll find yet another reminder why Bourdain enjoys the success he does. His wit and intelligence are matched only by his obvious adoration for his subjects: food, those who make it and those who enjoy it. There are a few spots that drag a little, a few points Bourdain makes a little too emphatically. But knowing Bourdain's penchant for excess, is this really surprising? In the end, as with the most satisfying meals, the last bite leaves you longing for more despite feeling done for now.

This book made me hungry. In it Bourdain describes the best meals he's ever eaten with so much detail you can taste it. I much preferred this book to his most famous one Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. It has great insight to how the industry works but in a more positive way. He really loved food and the industry as a whole.The book starts off with Bourdain talking about his dark history with drug abuse and suicidal thoughts. That really made an impact since I was reading this after his suicide. He also talked about his daughter and how he always wanted to be a father but didn't think it was in the cards for him. It's very sweet and also heartbreaking with the extra context.I really loved when he spoke about other chefs. He built up the people he liked and cut down the people he didn't. The food world, especially in New York City, is smaller than you think and reputation is everything. Overall this was a really interesting read.

This is a compilation of essays on random topics related to food and cooking. I enjoy Anthony Bourdain's writing, even though our culinary tastes could not be more different. He describes food  and kitchen secrets like no one else before him, being at the same time self critical and down to earth.This book is in some way continuation of "Kitchen Confidential" with a little more personal touch to it. I found it very entertaining and thought provoking at times. Author's distance to life and different values was clearly enhanced by his travels and meeting veriaty of people from multiple cultures. His reservation to consumerism and admiration of simplicity is well defined in this book.I wish the editing would be a little better but for what it is - it's very good.

As I consume more of Anthony Bourdain's work, as I read it out loud to my boyfriend and we both laugh, as I tear up hearing him talk about his daughter I understand why people have said they can't read his books or watch his shows since he died. It's so strange to fall in love with someone's writing after they're gone in the way he left, but I'm glad I have.

Anthony Bourdain is notorious for his loathing of and snide comments about vegetarians and vegans, so why would I, a strict vegan, be reading his new book?I like Bourdain. I like his writing style, his attitude, and his sense of humor. And I do take a gossip’s perverse enjoyment in reading all the nasty comments he makes about the other celebrity chefs and cooks that he hates.Additionally, I really enjoyed his first book, Kitchen Confidential, which was a great, authentic look, from an insider, at the restaurant business. It reminded me of all the time I spent working as a server and a bartender trying to earn enough tips to pay the bills in college and graduate school.In his latest book, Medium Raw, Bourdain continues to entertain, but this book is more about his life since he quit his job as a chef at Les Halles and focuses more on the foods and restaurants and cuisines that he loves with a good measure of attacks on his enemies as well as reflection upon where his own career has brought him.One thing that still frustrates me, though, is that Bourdain continues to fail to grasp the basic reasons why those of us who are vegan have eschewed animal products. In this book, he gives three main arguments for his dislike of vegans: 1. Vegans won’t eat all of the wonderful foods that other cultures have to offer. He comments frequently that he thinks it is very rude and ungrateful to travel to other countries and refuse to eat their cuisine. This is a very weak argument: when most vegans travel, they aren’t going into people’s private homes and eating but are rather eating at restaurants, and so they don’t have to even place themselves in the situation of refusing the hospitality of their hosts. Moreover, this critique fails to give sufficient credit to the people of other countries for being understanding of the vegan lifestyle: most people, in my experience, are not at all offended when I decline to partake of meat or other animal products, and when I explain my reasons for being a vegan, they readily understand, and I don’t see why people in other countries would not be equally as understanding. 2. Bourdain seems to think that we vegans consider all animals to be the equivalent of pets, and he speaks passionately about his own love for cats and dogs, and so, he says, he thinks he can, to a degree, understand the vegan/vegetarian position. But he is wrong: most of us who are vegans are vegans for ethical reasons. We don’t think of cows and chickens and turkeys and pigs as pets. We think of them as sentient creatures who can and do suffer, and their suffering is, from our perspective, immoral. Since we humans can live without eating animal products, we believe that we should refrain from eating them and thus reduce animal suffering. Our position as vegans is thus one that grows from our moral belief that we should do what we can to reduce animal suffering; it has little, if anything, to do with seeing all animals as the equivalent of domestic pets. 3. Bourdain argues strongly that there is a great deal of human suffering in this world, and so he thinks we vegans are wrong to focus on animal suffering. This argument is absurd. Most vegans, myself included, are far more concerned about human suffering than animal suffering. Just because we are concerned about animals does not mean we cannot also be concerned about humans: there is no “concern reservoir” in us that runs dry if we spend too much time caring about animals. Speaking for myself (and I know many vegans feel the same way), I find a charitable commitment to helping other humans to be one of my primary moral duties, and I also find helping end animal suffering also to be very important. The latter is actually much easier than the former because, to be a good vegan, all I have to do is not eat animal products, which is very, very easy to do, and thus I find that being a vegan does not in any way detract from my commitment to helping my fellow humans.All things considered, while Bourdain would probably call me an annoying vegan, I still love his prose and his insulting, sarcastic commentary, so I really did enjoy this book.