Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain

8.4/ 10 Dropps

Readers in this day and age have been taught the adage of never judging a book by its cover. While, if you’re an avid reader, this is a saying to live by, in the case of Medium Raw, the newest collection from Anthony Bourdain, the cover tells us a lot about what’s to come.

Ten years have gone by since the younger Anthony Bourdain graced the cover of his wildly successful sleeper premiere, Kitchen Confidential. Back then, Bourdain was a seemingly lean, handsome, and driven writer and chef dressed in kitchen whites. Now, with heroin and cocaine slips a thing of the past, Bourdain graces the cover of Medium Raw, trademark earring and white uniform behind him. Today Bourdain instead appears in a dark suit, dark tie, and a demeanor meaning business. He’s matured in his travels, and in turn, so has his writing.

Medium Raw finds Bourdain covering a slew of new subjects. Unlike most of his other works since Kitchen Confidential, in Medium Raw Bourdain returns to his roots, writing about food, the industry, his hazy past, and all the things that made him famous in the first place. The content throughout Medium Raw varies from page to page, from the subjects of cooking, his old days as a chef, his past, his hatred of all things Food Network, and his friends and enemies in the industry today.

No matter the subject matter on the page, Bourdain delivers his stories true to his own unique style, creating a story in a vein all his own. While reading, one finds themselves not so much following the words on the page but listening while a man with fascinating stories (and, oh, does he have stories) lets them unfold.

Something that has become painfully apparent after years of watching Bourdain’s undeniably popular TV program, No Reservations, and reading many of his painfully honest and hilarious books: that you (the reader) are either a fan or you seriously dislike him. Let’s face it, he can be an asshole, but he is well aware of that fact and he fully embraces it. He remarks several times throughout the course of Medium Raw that he is jaded; he lives a life most can only dream about and has done more in his life than most will ever experience. He’s fantastically lucky to say the least – he’s gone to hell and back and admits that it’s his own fault. He’s unapologetic and honest, which makes for a fun, interesting, and overall enjoyable read.

-Hunter Freiburg