“I have no wish to die, nor do I have some unhealthy fondness for dysentery. If I know you’re storing your squid at room temperature next to a cat box, I’ll get my squid down the street, thank you very much. I will continue to do my seafood eating on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, because I know better, because I can wait. But if I have one chance at a full-blown dinner of blowfish gizzard– even if I haven’t been properly introduced to the chef– and I’m in a strange, far Eastern city and my plane leaves tomorrow? I’m going for it. You only go around once.”–Anthony Bourdain
Reading the book “Kitchen Confidential” opened my eyes to much even I hadn’t seen in the food industry. Things like chefs offering week-old meat served up in a rich sauce to hide the rancid state of the food swimming in it. Things like chefs doing hard drugs and still being able to run a shift, or the camaraderie that can develop among chefs who become deep and true friends for life. Many of the staff that Anthony Bourdain worked with followed him from place to place for years.
The antics and pranks he describes among his cohorts was hilarious. One staff used to call another whenever he was “getting busy’ with his girlfriend , just so he could hear the sound effects. Bourdain took on many jobs out of desperation, even when he knew the establishment was going to tank. There were several days when he stayed up all night partying, only to have to show up at work and run a tight ship. He describes sexual escapades among co-workers, questionable food safety practices, and all out war among front and back of the house. Much of this is caused by the disparity in pay between the two sections.
The love he has always had for food stood out so much for me. When he describes the first time he ate an oyster, it was so poetic I felt as if I were experiencing it too. “I took it in my hand, tilted the shell back into my mouth as instructed by the now beaming Monsieur Saint-Jour and with one bite and a slurp, wolfed it down, It tasted of seawater…of brine and flesh…and somehow…of the future. Everything was different now. Everything. I’d not only survived, I’d enjoyed.” What an incredible way of sharing the moment.
Reading his story also made me go back to pivotal moments in my life , like watching my grandmother wring a chicken’s neck, pull out the feathers, clean, gut and fry it up and serve it for dinner!! Or traveling out to the farm where my grandfather slopped his hogs and the sounds of bliss they made as they grunted and ate. The joy on the faces of his guests as my father served up his delectable Soul food meals. The first time a man proposed to me after I fed him. (That one’s happened a lot.) I am reminded of the reasons why I became the woman they call Thighbone. They are many and diverse. But at the core of it all is a desire to show love through sustenance. I am certain that this work is life-changing.
When I read his list of reasons why you should not become a chef, I laughed aloud. I agreed with some, but I think some of them are based on the world he grew up in, where celebrity chefs didn’t exist. I believe it is possible to do good and do well in the industry, and that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Many of the plans I have for my empire include helping the less fortunate and the marginalized while becoming wealthy and passing the wealth on to my progeny.
I admire the man for all that he accomplished. He touched so many lives with his work, his words, his dry sense of humor and his travels. It is this zest for life that leads me to believe that he didn’t take his own. But that’s another story for another day. In the meantime, I’m thrilled that I had the chance to read this incredible first book of Anthony Bourdain’s. May his Spirit rest well…
— S. Donella Jones-Gilmore is a student in the culinary program at Woodland Community College also majoring in Communications. She contributes education reports, columns and occasional stories about the college through a partnership between the school’s academic program and the Record-Bee.
