Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
2000, 312 pages

In Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain takes the reader through his career in the restaurant industry, from his days as a dishwasher to running his own kitchen in New York City. I finished this one a couple of weeks ago and never quite got around to reviewing it, so this is going to be a short review since it's not as fresh in my memory anymore...

Writing and making television, no matter what some whining dipshits may tell you, is easy. Cooking is hard. Any author who gripes about the "pressures" of celebrity, the "difficulty" of being "on" all the time, or the travails of "the road" has clearly never worked a busy grill station. (p307)

Bourdain's writing is really entertaining, and his adventures in the food industry are very interesting to read about. The foodie in me loved reading about the inner workings of a restaurant, and I loved reading about different aspects of working as the kitchen as Bourdain moves of the ladder from lowly dishwasher to, eventually, having his own kitchen. Sometimes I was a little disoriented because the book isn't always told in chronological order, and towards the end it felt like the book was rambling a little rather than coming to closure, but overall it was a very enjoyable read. I'd recommend this book for Bourdain's entertaining writing and for the behind the scenes look at what it's like to work in a restaurant. Here's an excerpt from one of my favorite sections of the book, when Bourdain works for "Bigfoot" at a restaurant in New York:

Bigfoot understood--as I came to understand--that character is far more important than skills or employment history. And he recognized character--good and bad--brilliantly. He understood, and taught me, that a guy who shows up every day on time, never calls in sick an does what he said he was going to do is less likely to fuck you in the end than a guy who has an incredible resume but is less than reliable about arrival time. Skills can be taught. Character you either have or don't have. (p96)

As a side note, not long after finishing this, some friends and I went out to a nice dinner in Boston's North End, and I definitely had this book in the back of my mind... as I read the menu I remembered Bourdain's statements, such as chicken is on the menu for people who don't know what they want, vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent, etc., and I was definitely thinking about what might be going on in the kitchen during our meal.

Enlighted Sexism by Susan J. Douglas

Enlightened Sexism:  The Seductive Message that Feminism's Work is Done by Susan J. Douglas
2010, 334 pages

Enlightened sexism is a manufacturing process that is produced, week in and week out, by the media. Its components--anxiety about female achievement; a renewed and amplified objectification of young women's bodies and faces; the dual exploitation and punishment of female sexuality; the dividing of women against each other by age, race, and class; rampant branding and consumerism--began to swirl around in the early 1990s, consolidating as the dark star it has become in the early twenty-first century. Some, myself included, have referred to this state of affairs and this kind of media mix as "postfeminist." But I am rejecting this term. It has gotten gummed up by too many conflicting definitions. And besides, this term suggests that somehow feminism is at the root of this when it isn't-it's good, old-fashioned, grade-A sexism that reinforces good, old-fashioned, grade-A patriarchy. It's just much better disguised, in seductive Manolo Blahniks and an Ipex bra. (p10)

In Enlightened Sexism, Susan J. Douglas argues that the through the combination of "enlightened sexism" and "embedded feminism," the media and popular culture conceal the very real need for continued feminism - the very idea of which having become almost a dirty word. In embedded feminism, tv shows and the media present women in power as fait accompli, leading women to believe that feminism is part of the cultural landscape and hiding the fact that there still exist many disparities between women and men in this country. Through enlightened sexism, women continue objectified and exploited in popular culture, but the viewer is meant to watch with irony, as Douglas explains:

This is the knowing wink:  guys are so dumb, such helpless slaves to big breasts, and the female display is, in the end, so harmless, that a feminist critique is not necessary. Therefore, the objectification of women is now fine; why, it's actually a joke on the guys. It's silly to be sexist; therefore, it's funny to be sexist. (p13)

Douglas writes in a conversational tone that immediately pulled me into her writing and kept me interested. Not having read much nonfiction lately, I expected this to be a tough read for me and was pleasantly surprised to find the opposite to be the case - for the most part, I was constantly engaged by Douglas's writing and managed to finish it over the course of a weekend.

I also enjoyed reading the examples she cites of movies, tv shows, and popular culture in which embedded feminism or enlightened sexism are at work. Having watched or at least heard of many of the examples that she gives, I was intrigued by her analysis of them. To be honest, I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed this book as much as I would have if I wasn't so familiar with all of her examples - I did lose some interest when the chapters focused on aspects of the media I wasn't as familiar with. Her chapters also tended to be example-heavy, and more than once I wished that she would give fewer examples and make her point sooner.

This book definitely got me thinking more about feminism, and the role that it plays in my life. It's not something I've really considered before, and I'm definitely watching tv shows and movies in a new light now. Overall, I'd say that this book is illuminating and well-written, but be wary before picking it up if you're not completely interested in the subject material.

Note:  I received a copy of this book for review from Goodreads First Reads. 

My Life in France, by Julia Child

My Life in France
by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme, 2006, 352 pages

My Life in France follows Julia Child from 1948 to 1985 as she transforms from amateur cook to student at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris to author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking to world renowned TV personality. Told chronologically, the book touches on Julia's adventures with food as well as other important events in her life during that time.

I really enjoyed reading along as Julia's cooking developed, and was amazed by her thoroughness in learning to cook and, later, in testing recipes for her cook books. The book is written from Julia's voice, which is very entertaining. It contains amusing anecdotes about her life in France (see my Teaser Tuesday post for an example) along with mouth-watering descriptions of French food.

In addition to the cooking, it was intriguing to read about what life was like in Paris in the 1950s, and how the Cold War was treated in France. The book touches on the Marshall Plan, McCarthyism, and the foreign service (Julia's husband Paul the was a member of the foreign service). I liked reading about the differences between Europe and America during that time - I didn't realize just how big a role these differences played in preparing a French cookbook for the American kitchen.

The book also includes pictures that Paul took during their time in France scattered throughout the book, and I really enjoyed seeing pictures of the people mentioned - it made it seem more real to me. I couldn't always keep track of all the people Julia came in contact with over 352 pages, but it didn't matter all that much and the important ones (such as Chef Bugnard, her teacher at the Cordon Bleu, or Simone Beck, her collaborator for Mastering the Art of French Cooking) were easy to pick out.

I only have one complaint:  I wish they would have included just a few of the recipes that were described throughout the book! I know that's not the point of this book, but even so, I may have to go borrow a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking from the library for curiosity's sake.

I'm not sure if this book is for everyone, but if you have an interest in reading about food/cooking or are interested in the subject matter, I think you'll enjoy this book. I knew I had to buy the book when I looked at the first page on amazon and could hear Julia Child's voice coming through the pages. I flew through the book, reading most of it over the weekend, and it kept me constantly entertained. Definitely a worthwhile and interesting read.