Kitchen Confidential
July 13, 2026 — Anthony Bourdain
Table of Contents
Review
I love Anthony Bourdain. When I moved to Chicago the first time, in 2013, I’d put on Parts Unknown late at night in my dorm and I’d fall asleep watching that show. I’ve turned it, and other Bourdain shows, on as comfort watches many times in the 13 years between then and now. I appreciate and respect his worldview and what seemed like his mission in those shows, which felt like intentional breaking down of barriers and celebration of diversity and how diversity can be a great unifying thing.
I also see in Bourdain a kindred spirit. One of my favorite stories of his: he was sitting at a cafe drinking coffee when there was a car crash in front of him. His response was to think, “I’m bored.” He says that’s when he realized how depressed he was. Depression is a black lens over everything and it saps your energy and passes everything you experience through a filter, removing all the good and leaving (and adding some) bad.
Bourdain is one of the few ‘celebrity’ deaths I’ve felt heavy pangs of grief over, I cried. What happened, how it happened, was depressing. Bourdain died at 61 and reportedly had been depressed for a long, long time. More than a little bit, I could hear in his voice as I listened to him read this.
This book. I tried reading this a few years back and I bounced off of it, I’m not sure why. I started listening to the audiobook a few weeks ago as I was trying to sleep and found a lot of comfort in listening to Bourdain read it. That said, I don’t know how to do my usual style of review. I took no notes, I made no highlights. I liked the book, I think you should read it. That’s all I’ve got.