Summary of Anthony Bourdain book kitchen confidential

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Anthony Bourdain View about Sanitation
The book “Kitchen Confidential” by Anthony Bourdain is a non-fictional memoir produced and released in 2000. The book provides behind the scenes insights on the nature of the restaurant industry which the author describes as intense and in cases hazardous (Bourdain 2). The book includes a narration of the industry from a firsthand point of view as well as an insight of what happens behind and the customers are not aware. Apart from the cooking and culinary elements, the book talks about drugs and sex in which the author engaged in destroying his early life. Sanitation in this book is however emphasized by the exclamation, “Don’t eat before Reading this” under the title.
The author first believes that food must be as clean as possible since it gets inside the person’s body. The cleanliness starts from the school attended or where they learned the basics of food hygiene. The sanitation then extends to the raw food, it’s preparation and cooking. If an error occurs at any of these occasions the sanitation of the food and the restaurant comes into question (Bourdain 4). He stresses the importance of hygiene by confiding that when his life had gone astray, he did not do much of the kitchen work since it would compromise the sanitation. He ensured that he maintains a friendship with many people who help him in his work whenever his state could not allow. Bourdain also attended the Culinary Institute of America in New York due to the urge for more culinary skills.

In this school, sanitation was a key component of education, and his need for hygiene are traced from here.
In spite of the high standards of sanitation required, there are some unpleasant activities happening in the kitchen although behind the scenes. The activities are oftentimes hazardous and contribute to sanitation missteps. The poor sanitation in most cases results from the use of chefs who are not qualified (Bourdain 16). The unqualified people do not maintain the required sanitation standards in the process and end up giving food that is not up to the required standards. He says that there is no way an unqualified individual from the street can cook food meeting the set standards. He, therefore, advises the customers always to check the source of their food to ensure it meets the quality.
The book further explains how restaurants economic practices render the whole process unhygienic. In the process, the author warns the consumers of some of the things they must consider before the purchase. For instance, he advises the people against buying fish on Mondays from restaurants (Bourdain 25). The fish ordered on this day may be a left over from the weekend or even an earlier date. The restaurant owners are profit oriented and thus will not throw away the left fish but sell to the customers. The fish is, however, unhealthy to eat and amount to poor sanitation. In other cases, customers buy well-done beef which is a product of poor sanitation (Bourdain 30). In most cases, the overly done beef is from a low-quality grade that should not be consumed and also producing a foul smell. But the restaurants overcook it, and the unpleasant flavor is masked in the process.
From the book’s perspective, sanitation is essential in the restaurant industry. Most of the people in the sector like Bourdain have taken the necessary measures to ensure hygiene like going to the culinary institute and avoiding the kitchen when not sober. However, some owners still engage in unhealthy practices for economic gain, for instance, selling leftovers and low-quality beef.
Work Cited
Bourdain, Anthony. Kitchen Confidential. A&C Black, 2013.