迷上ANTHONY BOURDAIN 了

ANTHONY BOURDAIN 是TRAVEL 台"NO RESERVATIONS"上的节目主持人. 刚看电视上的他并不起眼,50左右瘦高的一个CHEF,去世界各地到处吃,并讲解当地的风土人情,不时喜欢说几句粗话,一个酷酷的老痞子形象.  他也在BRAVO上的TOP CHEF 做裁判.

后来有朋友推荐读了他的KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL 这本书,讲述他从大学辍学去学烧菜,年纪轻轻燃上毒瘾,从一个失败的厨房做到另一个失败的厨房,目睹了这个行业无数的不可启齿的规矩. 这书最可贵的是他的幽默和不可否认的VOICE, 不关是描述他在CAPE　ＣＯＤ夏天零时打工(真巧我夏天才去他工作过的PROVINCETOWN, 更觉的亲切)，还是到后来做ＬＥＳ HALLE 做头厨,他的独特的语音是贯穿全书的线索.

这书是2000年出的,让BOURDAIN一下成了名人,书在世界各地出版,还拍成了电视.


他学厨是从CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERIDA 开始的,在纽约州北部,简称"CIA."  有一门可叫"ORIENTAL COOKERY", 那年是1975.  他是这么描述的

The instructor, a capable Chinese guy, was responsible for teaching the fundamentals of both Chinese and Japanese cooking.  The Chinese portion of the class was terrific.  When it came time to fill us in on the tastes of Japan, however, our teacher was more interested in giving us an extended lecture on the Rape of Nanking.  His loathing of the Japanese was consuming.  In between describing the bayoneting of women, children and babies in World War II, he'd point at a poster of a sushi/sashimi presentation on the wall, and say in his broken, heavily accented English, "That a raw a fish.  You wanna eat that? Hah! Japanese shit!" Then he'd go back into his dissertation on forced labor, mass executions, and enslavement, hinting darkly that Japan would pay, sooner or later, for what it had done to his country.

这书会告诉你为什么不要在星期一晚上点鱼,吃面包是要想想你吃的可能是别人桌上被回收的面包. 对于想在餐馆业投资的人,先读了这书在作决定.

To want to own a restaurant can be a strange and terrible afflication.  What causes such a destructive urge in so many otherwise sensible people?  Why would anyone who has worked hard, saved money and often been successfual in other fields want to pump his hard-earned cash down a hoe that statistically, at lease, will almost surely prove dry?  ... The chances of ever seeing a return on your investment are about one in five.  What insidious spongiform bacterium so riddles the brains of men and women that they stand there on hte tracks, watching the lights of the oncoming locomotive, knowning full well it will eventually run them over? ... The easy answer, of course, is ego...

题外话,我认识的一对成功夫妇刚投了50,000美金在一个餐馆,做所谓的"SILENT　ＰＡＲＴＮＥＲ．＂　向他们推了这书但我知道他们没读，这笔钱对他们来说无所谓，但当然希望做成功的百分之二十！