Kitchen Confidential

A candid set of “Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly” - this is the book that thrust Anthony Bourdain into the public eye, and understandably so. His prose is so vivid, he writes in such a lucid way - it’s like he’s sat right next to you.

Kitchen Confidential began as a New Yorker article and it does read like an expanded collection of observations and anecdotes, but it doesn’t hurt the book at all. On the contrary, Bourdain is a great storyteller and knows how to write concisely as well as when to ramble on. He never tries to force a narrative, and has a smart level of self-awareness when he begins to contradict himself.

Fun, insightful, inspiring, a little melancholic and somehow still relevant 18 years after its release. Bourdain is opinionated but never tries too hard to win the reader over. This is a must-read for anyone who likes to eat.

The world lost a great writer this year.