“I’m going for it. You only go around once.” ~ Anthony Bourdain
I’m a phenomenal eater and dinner guest. I always bring a gift, I will wash dishes, and the only thing I don’t eat is mayonnaise. I remember starting college at Penn in West Philadelphia, a very ethnically diverse neighborhood, and realizing just how many kinds of food there were in the world. Ethiopian, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean. I learned that although Spaniards, Peruvians, and Venezuelans all spoke the same language, their food was vastly different and was decidedly not the Tex-Mex I once associated with all Latin cooking. Philadelphia was my introduction to the world of food.
History was one of my majors at Penn, and I love food history. I love cookbooks that read like adventure stories and convery the cultural understanding and insights that are wrapped up in food from a specific country. You can learn a lot about people by what they cook and eat. I started reading Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, the journey of Anthony Bourdain’s mad ride from lowly summer dishwasher to Executive Chef at Brasserie Les Halles, one of the top restaurants in New York, and am entranced by his storytelling.
I had a brief and unremarkable career in the restaurant business, composed of:
1.) 2 weeks as a server at the Rocking Horse Ranch when I was in high school. I was terrible.
2.) A summer as a cocktail waitress at a local bar in my hometown. I was also terrible. I didn’t drink then, and therefore didn’t know what any drinks were when people ordered them.
3.) A summer hostessing job at the Ground Round. This I was pretty good at because all I had to do was smile and say “right this way”.
4.) A barista at several coffee shops through college and during my early career. I was actually a decent barista, even though I didn’t drink coffee then. (Now I drink it every day and realize I missed out on this pleasure for far too long.) It kind of felt like I was inventing every drink I made, and I loved the scent of coffee and the baked goods that went along with it. That counter between me and the customers made it far less stressful than being a waitress.
5.) After I left theatre, I worked in a restaurant for about 2 weeks as a waitress – I sadly realized I had gotten even worse at this skill as I got older. So I threw in the towel on any possibility of taking up a career associated with a kitchen and have never looked back.
Kitchen Confidential made me realize why people take up careers slaving over a hot stove, torturing themselves with long, irregular hours, and working their way up a very long, unforgiving chain. There’s nothing glamorous or sexy about life in a kitchen. What food does offer is a pathway into the hearts, minds, and souls of others. It can heal, nurture, and teach. It brings people together, fosters friendship, and sparks love. Food is at the heart of so many cherished memories. It can transport us.
I don’t think my career will ever take a turn back into the food business, but I certainly have a new-found respect and admiration for the art of cooking and serving thanks to Bourdain’s brutally honest culinary tales. Chefs are societal heroes. Do yourself a favor and take the trip down memory lane with him. It’s well worth the time.
(Warning – this book contains some pretty crude language, which I find fabulous because it’s wrapped in unbelievably good storytelling. I marvel at the power of a well-placed profanity because I have no idea how to use them in writing, mostly because I don’t use them very often in my every day life. I have a feeling Bourdain spends a good deal of his day practicing the use of curse words so he’s a master at it. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, so I wanted to provide a word of caution. Cheers!)
Christa Avampato 