Raw and Confidential

Culinary swashbuckler Anthony Bourdain now occupies the enviable position of making more money talking about food than actually cooking it. Still, his charisma and wit were both too big to be contained behind the line, and it’s Bourdain we can thank for ushering in the era of chef-as-rock-star. His 2000...

By Arielle Castillo

February 3, 2011

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Culinary swashbuckler Anthony Bourdain now occupies the enviable position of making more money talking about food than actually cooking it. Still, his charisma and wit were both too big to be contained behind the line, and it’s Bourdain we can thank for ushering in the era of chef-as-rock-star. His 2000 memoir Kitchen Confidential shattered the idea of professional cooks as perky or refined. Instead, as he recounted, they are a rarefied, if sometimes unsightly, bunch — the few who can hack it in the high-pressure world of the commercial kitchen or who just can’t hack it anywhere normal. While his revelations — such as the true origins of “daily specials” — might have shocked some fine diners, it won Bourdain legions of fans in both the front and back of the house. Since then, he’s continued to share his Iggy Pop-style swagger through TV appearances and published writings, the most recent of which was last year’s Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook. Expect suitably cheeky answers to your questions when he speaks at Coral Springs Center for the Arts.
Tue., Feb. 15, 7:30 p.m., 2011

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