Food Is Good. Food Is Pain. Food Is Sex.

The bon mots of the title of this post are lifted from three chapters in Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. I recently read this for the second time around, and confirmed why it's one of my favorites over the last few years. Bourdain's book is part autobiography, part exposé on the dark side of the restaurant industry, and part tribute to kitchen denizens everywhere - from the prep cooks to the sous-chefs to the chefs de cuisine. Bourdain is head chef at Les Halles in New York City. He has written several books, including a novel as well as food-related writing. He has had a show on the Food Network (A Cook's Tour) and currently has a show on the Travel Channel (No Reservations). The man is a top chef and a successful writer; in other words one of my heroes.

Bourdain doesn't pull any punches in Confidential. He rips TV chefs, coworkers, ex-bosses, vegetarians, people who order chicken, people who order their steak well done, and garlic presses. One learns a few key things about how to cook like a pro (e.g. get a chef's knife and for heaven's sake mince your own garlic) and what/when not to order (stay away from Sunday buffets; stay away from mussels; stay away from Béarnaise sauce; stay away from fish on Tuesdays). He describes a cast of characters with whom he has worked in various kitchens over the years, and the list reads like roll call at Rikers: burnouts, parolees, ex-cons, the tattooed and pierced, foul-mouthed, burn- and knife-scarred castoffs who cannot hold down a "real" job or mix with decent society but who are somehow able to plate 200 perfect côtes de boeuf a night.

Confidential is also a tribute to food itself. Bourdain has an early chapter about a summer he spent in France with his family as a young kid, in which he made it a point to try every new food he came across - escargot, pâte, boudin noir - including his first oyster. His description of this episode is wonderful. He manages to capture in words that ineffable taste - nay, experience - of eating a raw oyster, perhaps nature's perfect food. It's funny, it's fascinating, and an enjoyable read all-around, foodie or no.