The Anthony Bourdain Reader: New, Classic, and Rediscovered Writing
Overall Ranking 4) Totally Optional
Would I recommend reading it?
This is the closest you can come to reaching across the bar and shaking Anthony Bourdain's hand as it gets. It is about peeling back the layers as to who the man was beyond just his rock and roller status of being a celebrity chef.
I was only introduced to him after his passing in 2018. Even then it was only glimpses in the flash of hotel room televisions and the occasional YouTube clip. All of which pointed to him as being 'America's Chef' whose voice could calm thunder and brought an almost poetic realism to the kitchen. It wasn't until I picked up a copy of his cookbook Appetites when I became curious as to who he was as a person. Who was the human being behind the tv persona who could himself be this sort of cooking conundrum?
This book was everything I could have hoped for. You get to feel the strong handshake but still notice the tired eyes. You'll read snid-bits of his most popular work that propped him up. Parts the whole world saw. And then something so incredibly intimate that its possible Bourdain never meant to show anyone, ever. But you get to see it. Unpublished, untyped, handwritten diary entries. Poorly flowing plays. Surprisingly engaging and rounded out short stories about gangsters. Little bits and pieces of him that will have you look up from the last page and almost see him in front of you as a wisping ghost.
Is this something that should be added to your permanent collect or be a required reading? Absolutely not. Bourdain would agree with me too. Was he the one who made the life of a chef seem like the life of a rock star and propel cooks to a new level of fame? I would make that argument, certainly. But at the end of the day, the thing I believe he would want to be remembered as was the guy who sat across from you at the bar, and you would drink, laugh, connect. And at the end of the night, simply be a fond memory.
"When people ask me if I miss it, my answer is always the same.
No, I don't.....
What I do miss, I tell them, and will always miss, is that first pull on a cold beer after work. That is irreplaceable"
I will say that here are going to be repeated themes and imagery. You can tell that at one point early on in his career a chef overseeing Anthony's station made a lasting impression when they threw their burnt blistered hands in front of his face. That imagery pops up three or four times. The writings are also not chronological. They are organized by theme. Anger. Drugs. Fame. And his writing reflects periods of his life where he was drowning in them. So, you will feel lost on occasion. However, I will give kudos to the editor for their astounding ability to right the ship and put you right back in it.
Will this book make the same impact if you have already read his works? I can't say. All I can say with certainty is that this man could write. And when he wrote he attached a small part of his soul to it. What a way to meet the man. Even if only in the ether.
Books to Bowls OUT!
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