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

Anthony Bourdain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 8, 2010

The long-awaited follow-up to the megabestseller Kitchen Confidential

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Bookmarks Magazine

No one really expected Bourdain to top his wildly popular Kitchen Confidential, even Bourdain himself: several critics wrote that he seems alternately awed and appalled by his own celebrity. Those parts of Medium Raw--more of a collection of essays than a streamlined narrative--that seemed to grow out of that celebrity, such as Bourdain's feuds with food critics and celebrity chefs, impressed reviewers the least. But they still found much to savor, particularly Bourdain's biting personality, his own humorous self-deprecation, his ability to bring out the unknown elements of the restaurant industry, particularly the kitchen and service staff who might otherwise be ignored, and, not least of all, the well-written (if often vulgar) and compelling stories. In the end, though Medium Raw will best be appreciated by foodies, it is "generally an entertaining read, compelling more for [Bourdain's] passion than his mean streak" (Kansas City Star).

From Booklist

Bourdain, who broke into the collective food consciousness with Kitchen Confidential (2000) and has since cemented his place as one of our foremost food commentators, offers the kind of book you can write only if you’ve achieved the level of fame at which you can assume that people care about about whatever you have to say (which they do, and should): a loose, sometimes repetitive, always entertaining, and even at times enlightening collection of food-related ramblings and name-naming hit-pieces. The result is more or less the book equivalent of finding yourself sharing plates at a communal table with a chatty, witty, unapologetically profane, knowledgeable and well-connected member-observer of the restaurant big leagues. If, like him, you see the world’s greatest chefs as somewhere between rock and porn stars, there’s no way you wouldn’t spend hours listening to him chew your ear off with stories of that coke-fueled weekend (or was it a month?) trapped on an island with the world’s most insufferably wealthy food posers and with diatribes on how annoying Alice Waters is and how critic Alan Richman is a “douchebag” (the nicer of the two things Bourdain calls him) for trashing the New Orleans food scene with the city still reeling from Katrina—and then turn on a dime to deliver an impassioned ode to Vietnamese pho and an admiring portrait of perhaps the world’s finest fish-portioner at Le Bernardin. It might have been a narcissistic, condescending, and overly insiderish collection if it weren’t for Bourdain’s consistently disarming self-awareness that he’s “the very picture of the jaded, overprivileged ‘foodie’ (in the worst sense of that word) that he used to despise.” On seeing himself through the eyes of a hungry young chef who still has to actually cook just to barely survive, he says, “Look at me and my nice fucking jacket, standing there all famous and shit.” Sure, others may cook better than he does, but no one can dish like he can. --Ian Chipman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Ecco; 1 edition (June 8, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061718947
• ISBN-13: 978-0061718946
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (178 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #97 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Gastronomy

More About the Author

Anthony Bourdain is the author of the novels Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo, in addition to the megabestsellers Medium Raw, 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 the host of the popular television show No Reservations.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

184 of 190 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you read and enjoyed Kitchen Confidential - you won't want to miss this one!, June 9, 2010

By 

J. Lee "imajeel" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook (Hardcover)

The year's may have passed and he's turned into a TV personality since Kitchen Confidential Updated Edition: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.), which revealed the behind-the-scenes world of a chef in the NY city restaurant scene, but Tony despite his own self-analysis in this one hasn't changed all that much.

He's still as potty mouthed, contrarian, anti-establishment and provocative as ever. He's also as much or more of a clever, creative good writer with an unquestionable passion for food and the restauraunt biz that entertains and fascinates even someone like me who only eats at restaurants.

Like the first book, the chapters each act as more of an essay than as a story - covering the evolution of the restaurant/food industry and what's happened to him since his first book.

There's a lot of angry diabtribes interlaced with his dry humor. The topics include the inability to find a good decent hamburger, overpretentious/priced restaurant habits, the evils of the James Beard foundation, Alice Waters and sustainability, vegetarianism, the CIA and the Food Network. Some of these are better executed than others. During the hamburger one, in particular - I was ready for him to get off his soapbox long before he actually did.

Still, Tony doesn't shy away from naming names and dishing dirt that anyone who watches those "evil" food shows like Iron Chef, Top Chef, and Rachel Ray will recognize and find entertaining. In fact, a whole chapter is dedicated to who he believes are the heroes and villians of the restaurant biz today, and why. (Basically, non-restaurant "warriors" and anything that mildly reeks of establishment isn't going to hit the heroes list.)

Where the book, for me, truly shined was when it became about the food he loves and people he admires. A food porn chapter in which he highlights many of his best foodie experiences was a delight. He and his wife's attempts to convince their daughter that Ronald McDonald is an evil guy w/ cooties left me in stitches. And, a chapter about a man who just cleans and cuts fish everyday for a fine dining restaurant and his incredible mastery of it moved me.

Finally, there's a chapter that serves up an update to what's happened to the people he featured in Kitchen Confidential, that anyone who read that one won't want to miss.

BOTTOM LINE: If you've read Kitchen Confidential and enjoyed it, you'll enjoy this one - written by a slightly older and wiser man who hasn't lost any of his edge, writing ability or passion for food.

75 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Un-self-satisfied!, June 9, 2010

By 

Dmitry Portnoy (Studio City, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook (Hardcover)

Anthony Bourdain's previous collection "Nasty Bits" felt like a watered-down overcooked rehash of his original shtick. His new one, "Medium Raw," is a true revival. Bourdain has shaken off the cashmere of complacency to don a Viking bear-shirt of rage, and even though he takes stabs at familiar targets--TV, the corporations and the rich--he has come up with bloody fresh reasons to hate them (which is something.) His jokes are disturbing, his horrors hilarious, his meals orgasmic: his food descriptions are as far beyond crass culinary porn as Caravaggio and Boticelli are beyond "Jugs." Schlosser and Pollan may better connect food to economics and politics; Bourdain is supreme at plugging it to the gonads and guts. No one better demonstrates that food is part of life. This book makes both more interesting.

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Superb Course from the Chef de Bile, June 15, 2010

By 

Edward J. Johnson (Aliquippa, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook (Hardcover)

Tony does not, for the most part, pull any punches. For the record, Sandra Lee terrifies me too. He doesn't divulge Bigfoot's identity, but for the most part, does name names. I especially liked the chapter on heros and villains. His takedown of Alan Richman is priceless.

The bottom line with Mr. Bourdain is that he really cares about food and the people who prepare it, whether it's the guy in the Czech Republic who stuffs sausages with his bare hands, or the man who cuts the fish at Le Bernardin.

Food is too important to leave to the Rachael Rays and Sandra Lees of the world. We need fewer people clamoring about EVOO and more people cooking and eating a well-executed omelet or a good simple tomato sauce.

Start reading this on a Friday. It will last most of the weekend, and when you're finished, you'll be eager for the next course. I don't know how many more of these Tony has in him, but I'm waiting for the next one.