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Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

by Bourdain, Anthony
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

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ISBN13: 9780061718946
ISBN10: 0061718947
Condition: Standard
DustJacket: Standard

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

In the ten years since his classic Kitchen Confidential first alerted us to the idiosyncrasies and lurking perils of eating out, from Monday fish to the breadbasket conspiracy, much has changed for the subculture of chefs and cooks, for the restaurant business — and for Anthony Bourdain.

Medium Raw explores these changes, moving back and forth from the author's bad old days to the present. Tracking his own strange and unexpected voyage from journeyman cook to globe-traveling professional eater and drinker, and even to fatherhood, Bourdain takes no prisoners as he dissects what he's seen, pausing along the way for a series of confessions, rants, investigations, and interrogations of some of the most controversial figures in food.

Beginning with a secret and highly illegal after-hours gathering of powerful chefs that he compares to a mafia summit, Bourdain pulls back the curtain — but never pulls his punches — on the modern gastronomical revolution, as only he can. Cutting right to the bone, Bourdain sets his sights on some of the biggest names in the foodie world, including David Chang, the young superstar chef who has radicalized the fine-dining landscape; the revered Alice Waters, whom he treats with unapologetic frankness; the Top Chef winners and losers; and many more.

And always he returns to the question Why cook? Or the more difficult Why cook well? Medium Raw is the deliciously funny and shockingly delectable journey to those answers, sure to delight philistines and gourmands alike.

Review

“The food orbit is [Bourdain’s] element, and chapters on today’s leading figures — from chef David Chang to critic Alan Richman — display his access, outspokenness and comedic gifts.” Wall Street Journal

Review

“The Kitchen Confidential author is a father now, but he hasn’t cleaned up his language, lost his zesty appetite or his critical zing.” Time Magazine

Review

“Bourdain is back with more intriguing food fights, moving further from the kitchen into the eating industry. [Bourdain’s] dissections...are still as hilarious, as scatological and as spot-on as ever....his fare — and his prose — is still quite spicy.” BookPage

Review

“Full of things everybody in the food world thinks but nobody will say...If [Bourdain’s] sharp eye and his wicked tongue have brought him acclaim, what’s kept him in the spotlight is his heart. Like Oscar Wilde, he’s a moralist in the guise of a libertine. Long may he prosper.” Denver Post

Review

“Mr. Bourdain is a vivid, bawdy and often foul-mouthed writer. He thrills in the attack, but he is also an enthusiast who writes well about things he holds dear.” Wall Street Journal

Synopsis

This long-awaited follow-up to Kitchen Confidential contains the confessions, rants, investigations, and interrogations of some of the more controversial figures in food. Bourdain tracks his own unexpected voyage from journeyman cook to celebrity chef and globe-traveling professional eater and drinker.

Synopsis

Medium Raw marks the return of the inimitable Anthony Bourdain, author of the blockbuster bestseller Kitchen Confidential and three-time Emmy Award-nominated host of No Reservations on TV s Travel Channel. Bourdain calls his book, A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook, and he is at his entertaining best as he takes aim at some of the biggest names in the foodie world, including David Chang, Alice Waters, the Top Chef winners and losers, and many more. If Hunter S. Thompson had written a book about the restaurant business, it could have been Medium Raw."

Synopsis

A lot has changed since Kitchen Confidential. For the subculture of chefs and cooks, for the restaurant business as a whole — and for Anthony Bourdain. Medium Raw explores those changes, taking the reader back and forth — from the author's bad old days — to the present. Tracking his own strange and unexpected voyage from journeyman cook to globe traveling professional eater and drinker, Bourdain compares and contrasts what he's seen and what he's seeing, pausing along the way for a series of confessions, rants, investigations, and interrogations of some of the more controversial figures in food. Always returning to the question: "Why cook?" Or, the harder to answer: "Why cook well?"

Beginning with a secret and highly illegal after-hours gathering of powerful chefs he compares to a Mafia summit, the story follows the twists and eddies through subjects ranging from:

  • "The Friends of David Chang," an incredibly undiplomatic discussion with (and peek into the mind of) the hottest, most influential chef in America.
  • "Don't Ask Alice": Alice Waters. Good...or Evil?
  • The Big Shake Out: The restaurant business in post economic meltdown America. How it's changing. How it might change even more.
  • And, Heroes and Villains. (With a few returning favorites.)

Synopsis

The author of "Kitchen Confidential" explores how his life and the cooking world have changed since his last book, offering up candid assessments of such figures as David Chang, Alice Waters, and the "Top Chef" winners and losers.

Video


About the Author

Anthony Bourdain is the author of the novels Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo, in addition to the mega-bestseller Kitchen Confidential and A Cook's Tour. His work has appeared in the New York Times and The New Yorker, and he is a contributing authority for Food Arts magazine. He is also the host of the popular television show No Reservations.

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Average customer rating 4 (5 comments)

`
trina_sutter , January 25, 2011
Intelligent and witty, Anthony Bourdain keeps it fresh with Medium Raw!

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boosterseat26 , January 01, 2011
As with all of Anthony Bourdain's books, Medium Raw shows an interesting look at life in the food industry. There are points where it drags, but mostly the book is entertaining and witty.

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sparklecrystal , December 28, 2010 (view all comments by sparklecrystal)
If you like the kind of book wherein the f-bomb is liberally sprinkled throughout gratuitously, then this is the book for you.

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`
bhart927 , October 17, 2010 (view all comments by bhart927)
When I read Anthony Bourdain's "Medium Raw: A Bloody Vanentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook," I am transported to a small, slightly seedy pub in New York. It is as if this stranger, Anthony Bourdain is sitting next to me at the bar drinking his fourth vodka on the rocks. He is slightly tipsy, and in need of confessing his decade of insights. I listen, and he spills his guts. In his remarkable autobiographical, confessional style, Anthony Bourdain begins in an illegal feast of endangered animals, wondering why he has been invited to this feed where the top chefs from the country are huddled under a cloth to devour a tiny bird, head, feet, and all. I read on, he is upset, truly believes he is not worth shit in the kitchen compared to these honored few at the table. I am there, with him, encouraging him to open up, get it off his chest. He continues to confide in me, the reader, using his acerbic vocabulary and desire to reveal his past sins and observations of the culinary world around him. Along the way, I realize that here is a man who has matured, perhaps because his is now a loving father, and understand that, for Anthony Bourdain, it is imperative for him to share his revised insights with the world. After" Kitchen Confidential," Bourdain became an international culinary celebrity, the result of this celebrity was his television series on world cultures. In "Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook," Bourdain revises some of his comments on celebrity that he abhorred and now finds himself in. It is imperative that we, the reader, know he is having second thoughts on his original observations. The reason I love reading Anthony Bourdain, is that he writes beautifully in the first person, moving from four-letter expletives to thoughtfully descriptive adjectives. As the reader am right there as he shares his insights on his transformation from unknown to infamous. He desperately needs to confessor, and has chosen me.

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cutie_sweets2002 , May 28, 2010 (view all comments by cutie_sweets2002)
This is book is bloody brilliant!! In a time where media food stars seem to paste on a plastic grin, Bourdain's writing style is frank and refreshing. A must read if you consider yourself a foodie, or are at all interested in Bourdain.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780061718946
Binding:
Hardcover
Publication date:
06/08/2010
Publisher:
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS
Pages:
304
Height:
1.06IN
Width:
6.21IN
Thickness:
1.25
Number of Units:
1
Copyright Year:
2010
UPC Code:
4294967295
Author:
Bourdain Anthony
Author:
the Top Chef winners and losers
Author:
Anthony Bourdain
Subject:
Travel Writing-General
Subject:
Biography-Cooking
Subject:
Cooking and Food-General
Subject:
General-General
Subject:
Cooking and Food-Gastronomic Literature
Subject:
Bourdain, Anthony
Subject:
Cooks -- New York (State) -- New York.
Subject:
NEWARRIVAL-CULTURE
Subject:
Cooking and Food-Food Writing
Subject:
Biography - General
Subject:
Personal Memoirs

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List Price:$26.99
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More copies of this ISBN

  • Signed, Used, Hardcover, $25.00
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