Foodie Obsessed

Anthony Bourdain “The Nasty Bits”

by Tracey Thompson on April 17th, 2007

 Anthony Bourdain’s book from last year, The Nasty Bits:  Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps and Bones has just come out in paperback.

The edgy, free spoken chef has written several books beyond just the basic cookbook.  This is a collection of essays and observations influenced by his many travels and disdain for the culinary, cultural mass market. 

Mark Knoblauch from Booklist wrote:

Deriving in large part from his popular series of television travelogues, Bourdain’s new collection of essays breezes along. Bourdain writes as he talks–irreverently, earthily, and determinedly free of euphemism. The reader can almost hear him dragging on his cigarette between sentences. In just a few pages he lays bare the gritty, fill-those-tables economics that govern a restaurant’s success without respect to the competence of its cooks. He surveys the current crop of over-publicized chefs in their trendy Las Vegas digs and finds their eateries flourishing if soulless. He fears that celebrity (and vast riches) will undo many potentially great chefs, but exceptions such as Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse confirm his faith in the higher side of his profession. Anyone who’s ever dined in one of the thousands of undistinguished and indistinguishable “family” restaurants clogging the nation’s highways will appreciate Bourdain’s take on “Restaurant Hell.” His lusty paean to the old, freewheeling Times Square of drugs, sex, and crime offers a contrarian, in-your-face riposte to New York City’s touristy gentrification.

Anthony Bourdain can be seen on the Travel Channel in No Reservations.  His NY Times bestseller can be found at your local bookstore or Amazon.

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