Wrapped Up in Books: Kitchen Confidential (mk)
Recently, I was revisiting Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential for something light to read to wind down the day. I got my hands on a newer copy, annotated with some of Bourdain’s handwritten thoughts and a posthumous introduction from Eric Ripert. While it’s debauchery is (probably) what made it so popular, there were somethings related to creativity and teaching that I think are worth highlighting.
In his introduction, Ripert writes, “[T]here is something very humble about him. He never acted better than anyone, because he never thought he was.” (xx) He goes on to detail his friend’s generosity with his knowledge and time, stressing how this particular combination of humility and generosity made him an invaluable friend.
And while the stories of drugs and sex in the back of the house are (again, probably) propelling the front half of the book along, the reader gets another taste of Bourdain’s humility in the chapter on Scott Bryan–“The Life of Bryan.”
The whole world of cooking is not my world, contrary to what impression I might have given you in the preceding pages. Truth be told, I bring a lot of it with me. Hang out in the Veritas kitchen, take a hard look at Scott Bryan’s operation, and you will find that everything I have told you so far is wrong, that all my sweeping generalities, rules of thumb, preconceptions and general principles are utter bullshit. (290)
There’s charm in a self-deprecating joke. But this chapter–and the subsequent chapter on Tokyo–are, for my money, the strongest of the book. It’s here that we come to appreciate the way that Bourdain appreciates. He sees a colleague whom he feels is better than him and celebrates that colleague. When he sees him run a kitchen that is the opposite of every kitchen he has found formative, he doesn’t dismiss it; instead, he questions the way he understands his own growth. And in Tokyo we read him falling head over heels in love with food and a culture that was previously unfamiliar to him. I can see immediately why No Reservations became a thing. Joy is contagious. See for yourself:
Anthony Bourdain and Sean Brock at a Waffle House
Bourdain ends his introduction of the book, “This is for the cooks.” He understands himself not as singular creative talent, but as someone in a continuum of cooking, as a person who brings others pleasure. While he understands his celebrity, what he is hoping to do is write of the paycheck to paycheck existence of the back of the house. In turn, he’s highlighting the lower middle-class creatives that make the restaurant industry possible. In turn, he’s bringing visibility to the labor that often lies invisible whenever we speak about the food scene of a given locale.
Where does this leave me? Well, first, I am awed at how much creativity is in the art world. Take my current hometown of Columbus, Ohio and my current position as a professor at CCAD. There are so many creative people on our campus alone, from my colleagues to the students that spend time here, it’s hard to conceptualize it. While we may celebrate Columbus as the home of Ann Hamilton, the vibrancy of Columbus can never be captured by a singular person. The vast majority of creative people in every town are making, at best, a lower middle class living off their work. To put too fine a point on it, the only reason I can make the work I want to make is because of salary as a professor (and a very supportive partner). The creative community here, and elsewhere, thrives on the desire of people to be creative despite the little financial support given to them. It has me dreaming of universal basic incomes for everyone and celebrating increases in tax rates to keep this all vibrant, but I suppose the human desire to be creative (and delusional) will keep all this running anyway.
But, more than this, two things are sticking with me in thinking about Kitchen Confidential. First, there isn’t one way to do things. Sure, we may exist on a continuum and there is much to be learned through mentorship, but people thrive on many different types of mentorship depending upon where they are in their journeys. Second, my desire to celebrate the creativity of others brings me a lot of joy. I feel that joy in Bourdain’s writing. I hope I can bring that joy to others.
