I recently read Anthony Bourdain’s “Medium Raw” so I thought I’d share my impressions. I feel like I should first say that I L-O-V-E  Anthony Bourdain. He’s snarky and opinionated and likes food and booze and that’s my kind of person. I absolutely love his show “No Reservations” which is where I know him best from. I haven’t read “Kitchen Confidential” (yet) which was his first non fiction book, I think.

SIDE NOTE: He did write some non fiction too, which is I think pretty common for people who party and do a lot of drugs – you can do a lot of thinking when you stay up for a few days and I bet he though he was super deep and creative – I wonder what he thinks of his books now that he’s sober… I gotta head to Amazon and find them one of these days and see if they are any good!

Anyways, “Kitchen Confidential” was a huge success, especially among chefs. I remember seeing one of the cooks at a restaurant I used to work at a million years ago with the book, and he was definitely loving it and it’s honesty and attitude and drugs and booze. I had no idea who Anthony Bourdain (ok – I’m going to stop using his full name now, screw SEO, he’ll now be referred to as ‘Tony’ as I imagine I would refer to him if we were having a beer and a smoke together – both Tony and I have quit smoking, but when I imagine us meeting, we smoke) was at the time, but I remember this specific incident because I’ve always been interested in books and food and eating and I made a mental note to check out the book – guess I shoulda wrote it down hey? So now it’s 10 years later, and his next book “Medium Raw” has come out, I now know who Anthony Bourdain (last time) is, and I know I love him so I excitedly pick up the book.

If you were thinking that in the ten years between the two books, he was perhaps, working on the book, you’d be mistaken. The book reads like something he dictated to someone over the course of a weekend and a couple bottles of booze. Yes, he does have a natural way with words and storytelling and a good vocabulary so the book is certainly readable, but I felt a little let down. The book really feels like a money grab, like Tony now prefers to stay home with his new family so he threw a book idea at Harper Collins knowing they’d bite and he’d get a nice fat paycheck and be able to resume his post as Mr. Mom.

The book doesn’t follow a timeline, or any other natural sense of organization which is extremely off-putting. It just feels so thrown together. There are some trademark snarky comments here and there but they are a little watered down to say the least. Perhaps fatherhood has mellowed him out? The worst part, I imagine, for people who loved “Kitchen Confidential” is that he prety much goes back on everything he says in that book. Basically, he says “forget ‘Kitchen Confidential’ – I was a mess and it was a load of crap” and although, like I said, I haven’t read it, I felt hurt for the people who looked at that book like some sort of underground bible for kitchen crews everywhere. They finally had this voice, this strong, loud voice, to speak for them and now he’s making them feel like idiots for having looked up to him and taken him so seriously. He even takes back the “no fish on a Monday” thing.

Tony certainly takes advantage of his ability to actually write a book and have it published, regardless of it’s merits, to verbally assault a couple people who have pissed him off over the years. Unfortunately,  I didn’t know who the heck he was talking about and you probably won’t either. He calls the chapter “Heroes and Villains” and pretty much takes two shots at someone then offers a softening compliment, along the lines of “this person writes terrible crap, but I have to admit, he/she is a great writer”.  Who is this guy?

Final thoughts: Anthony Bourdain’s “Medium Raw” is not the Tony you know and love, but it’s a watered down version of him that isstill an enjoyable read overall, if only for the occasional glimpses of the “Old Tony”. The writing itself is good, and you’ll probably learn a couple new words, which is what they tell you to look for in a book, in grade 4 anyway.

PROS: Easy style. Great vocabulary. A couple juicy stories. Use of the word ‘clusterfuck’ and ‘douche bag’ is always appreciated.

CONS: Disorganized. Too personal (who the hell is Gael Greene?). Too P.C. in places. Too nicey, nice – I mean he actually puts Jamie Oliver on his list of heroes. Yes, you read that right. Personally, I adore Jamie Oliver, but for Tony to do a complete 180 makes me wonder, who is he now? Really, it’s probably my fault for being so unwilling to accept that he’s changed as a person – but I swear, I saw the old Tony on the Travel channel like, 2 days ago, so you can’t blame me for being confused!

Overall => READ IT, it’s still Tony…