Revisiting ‘Kitchen Confidential’

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 13 December 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Anthony Bourdain published his memoir Kitchen Confidential in 2000 as a little-known chef. In the 25 years since its publication, his writing – and subsequent work in TV and entertainment – has shaped the way we talk about restaurants and food. In today’s Books We’ve Loved, Andrew Limbong and B.A. Parker are joined by Eric Deggans, critic-at-large at NPR. They discuss Bourdain’s documentation of a particular time in the restaurant industry, the book’s impact on dining culture, and Bourdain’s personal legacy. Then, special guest Samin Nosrat shares her perspective on what’s changed in the culinary world in the years since.

Eric’s Recommendation: ‘Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets’ by David Simon

Parker’s Recommendation: ‘Land of Milk and Honey’ by C Pam Zhang

Andrew’s Recommendation: ‘Meet Me in the Bathroom’ by Lizzy Goodman

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You hear, oh, it's a book by somebody who's been a chef for a long time talking about the food industry, okay.
0:05.5	And then you open it up, and the writing is so vibrant that it's obvious that he could have just made a living as a writer.
0:13.0	And so you're like, oh, okay.
0:15.8	You're listening to Books We've Love from NPR, the book show where we reread old favorites and tell you why they still matter today. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. I'm B.A. Parker. Parker. How you doing, Andrew? You're going to learn a lot today about me. You're going to learn a lot. I feel like I know too much. You're going to learn a lot about it. Through what we read?
0:38.8	Yeah, from today's book.
0:41.1	I don't know if that's in your favor, my friend.
0:43.2	I know.
0:43.5	It's no good.
0:44.1	It's no good.
0:45.0	Folks, today we are talking about Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.
0:50.1	And here joining us to also learn a lot more about me is NPR critic at large Eric Deggans.
0:57.3	He's also the Knight Professor of Journalism and Media Ethics at Washington and Lee University.
1:02.8	What's up, Eric?
1:03.8	Hey, man.
1:04.5	And, you know, I know you pretty well.
1:06.3	We work together at NPR for a long time.
1:08.9	I don't think you go surprise me. Okay, cool. Yeah, all right. So you already clocked me as a kind of Bourdain guy. Of course. Dude. Respectfully. Respectfully. Yeah. Okay. So first, real quick, for folks who haven't read Kitchen Confidential, I'm just going to run through quick synopsis.
1:29.7	It was first published in the year 2000.
1:33.3	So Kitchen Confidential is a memoir from a then-unk-Unknown chef,
1:38.8	cockly revealing to an unsuspecting public what's going on behind the scenes at restaurants.
1:41.2	You've got drinking, drug use, dirty jokes.
1:46.0	You've also got camaraderie, petty crime, and also some really beautiful cooking. There you got. Great summary. But wait, okay, Andrew, why did, why did you pick this book?
	...

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