Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain

 Ppbk - $16.00, 320 pgs

Warning: This book is not for the faint of heart or stomach.  Contents contain raunchy language, diatribes against perceived and actual sins committed, admissions of the darkest kind, confessions enough to make a chef blush, and talk about lots and lots of food - some of it even illegal.

The book is laid out in an essay format, each chapter receiving it's own particular topic.  Each topic flows in a somewhat linear fashion, but not infrequently is the reader bounced back to the past, to days when Bourdain was a line cook, or running Les Halles, or globetrotting for A Cooks Tour or No Reservations.  The reader is also treated to flash forwards, to insights and tidbits on how life changing it can be to suddenly have a daughter. 

One chapter may be a rant against McDonalds and the brilliance of marketing the corporations have latched onto in using children to part parents from their money.  The next chapter may be a look at Bourdains "Hero's" (Jamie Oliver) and "Villain's (St. Alice).  He may pontificate on how it was a huge disservice to all kids (and thus future adults) when administrations took away home ec in schools. The next chapter may be talking about Korean hot-pot, eating sushi in Japan, or Thai food. 

Yet somehow it all flows together.

My complaints with the book lie in the continual confessions of his past life.  Yes, yes, the reader understands that you are recovering druggie in the first 5 chapters.  By chapter 10, the reader doesn't need to be reminded of it yet again.   Then Bourdain goes on to describe a weekend of debauchery on some rich island in the Caribbean or some such place and oh, how awful it was.  Cry me a river.  The shock value has grown numb.  The writing style, the wit and the acid tongue can carry the story alone with out the continual pulpit confessions.

A few references may not entirely make sense if you haven't read at least one of his other books (A Cooks Tour, Kitchen Confidential, The Nasty Bits, No Reservations), or are otherwise familiar with his history at Food Network and the Travel Channel.  And, in case you think I am...exaggerating a bit, about any of what I've written above, please go read the warning again.  

Recommended if you want to hear about the food industry as it is, not how it's presented through the Food Network.