The point is that it was fostering a culture that enabled abuse to persist.
I didn’t get through the first chapter of KC. I remember reading it and thinking, I don’t really want to spend any time with this guy. To his credit Bourdain later said he was insecure when he wrote it and a dick. I liked him on TV but didn’t get cable so missed a lot. He might have been able to call out some of this current BS but maybe not. The legacy of the French kitchen brigade model is way deeper than a few hundred years. There’s serious class related issues and heck, kitchen work was often labeled work for ex-convicts.
If there’s anyone alive who might give perspective on the French Brigade model (and how to change it) it’s Jacques Pepin, who actually went through it. His autobiography suggests he was the bright and likable apprentice humming along…until he worked for a chef who simply did not like him and made life hell. So he knows the model and abuse. Jacques of course eventually became Charles de Gaulle’s personal chef but when coming to the US, he rejected it all. He decided against becoming JFK’s chef and went on to cooking giant batches for Howard Johnson’s and getting a college education. Pepin also has slammed TV cooking competitions and reality TV cooking drama shows saying it promotes the wrong values.
The other thing I’d say is unionize for safety purposes, new protocols but fat chance there if restauranteurs reject most changes like paying for healthcare…then posting public disclaimers about health care and service fees.
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Bourdain was? Sometimes hard to figure out what comment people are responding to.
Also wondering if the person on this thread who mentioned they were going to the pop up will write about his/her dinner. I think everyone is interested.
I think the stereotype of autistic people lacking empathy reflects mostly poor understanding and intolerance of neurodiversity by the general population. In fact, some autists are hyper empathetic. As with most things, it varies. I hope you will read up on it, and more importantly, get to know some people with atypical nervous systems. They number something like 1 in 32 people diagnosed these days.
Agree that sociopath is the proper term for RR.
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Delete
Yes.
Bourdain himself in later interviews regretted glorifying and perpetuating that culture.
But with the publication of “Kitchen Confidential,” his life changed almost overnight. Not only did readers relish his over-the-top tales of kitchen misbehavior, his fellow cooks and chefs saw him as their hero and spokesman. “Since the book came out, I’ve never had so much free booze and free food in my life,” he said on KCRW’s radio show Good Food. “Chefs and cooks everywhere seem to see me as the poster boy for bad behavior in kitchens.”
When “Kitchen Confidential” first came out, a big shock for many readers was the depraved, hyper-macho culture in restaurant kitchens. In the book, Anthony Bourdain described the “testosterone-driven, male-dominated world of restaurant kitchens” as unapologetically crude and sexualized, a place where few women can survive, let alone thrive, professionally.
But as Slate noted, Bourdain’s gleeful embrace of this exaggerated machismo has not aged well. In light of the #MeToo movement and with two decades of hindsight, readers can see the world Bourdain celebrated for what it was -– an oppressive, pathologically sexist, and hurtful culture. And Bourdain himself became aware of this in his later years, in part because of his relationship with actress Asia Argento, who was among the many women to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault.
“That certainly brought it home in a personal way that, to my discredit, it might not have before,” he told Slate. He also wondered aloud to Slate if “Kitchen Confidential” contributed to the perpetuation of this culture. “I’ve had to ask myself, and I have been for some time, ‘To what extent in that book did I provide validation to meatheads?’”
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It took almost two years for the Bastianiches to buy Batali out.
Babbo stayed alive through and after, and has been reinvented / reinvigorated as of the end of last year.
There was enough brand value in the name to not only have survived, but be purchased by the likes of Stephen Starr (with Mark Ladner at the helm).
This is not a first-time situation.
Watching some reactions on social media to his posted video and the feeling is that he’s not really going to step away from restaurant and brand. We shall see…
Went to Babbo years ago and had a drink at the bar and watched Mario flit around. Maybe that restaurant name isn’t as well known as Noma but again who knows.
Recommend the book by Laurie Woolever, Care and Feeding, who worked for Mario and Bourdain.
For anyone interested in food being served at LA Popup. This guy posted on LA Food Reddit so assume it’s alright to pass on.
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Ooooh! I’ve always wanted to start a meal with a planter full of … whatever that’s supposed to be.
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I think that looks pretty cool. Obviously I’m not paying $1500 (plus travel & lodging) if it will profit someone I know to be an asshole. But I can appreciate food that’s intended to do more than just taste good and provide nutrition. I also have some weird, hard-to-wear clothes, and I like those, too.
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Psychopath.
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I wonder if any of the witnesses thought to report him to child protection services? In the UK, children witnessing domestic violence is considered a form of child abuse (children can be permanently adversely psychologically affected by this). Not only was RR abusing his staff, he was also abusing his own children by letting them witness his horrible behaviour.
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This one could be called “Primordial Swamp Ooze”. Mold spewing out of an overripe something-or-other before it degrades into a slimy swamp.
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It looks disgusting.
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Long ago, I had an amazing dish called “Tide Pool” at a restaurant off Bryant Park in Manhattan. Kind of similar.
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I have to say that nothing posted makes my mouth water. Looks like stuff I see on the ground when I walk my puppy every morning.
I’ve read another account of RR going nuts and getting physical in front of one of his kids. Disturbing behavior. Sometimes assault is hard to prove because it’s between two people but most of his assaulting was done in front of many staff. Pretty sure if that had been at any other kind of workplace the police would have been called.
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