Medium Raw (Articulo de Anthony Bourdain)

I am not a chef but Anthony Bourdain is and today's post comes courtesy of him as published in his book of essays, Medium Raw (a really good read btw).

As an aside, I ran into him in Miami and he looks great. I've interviewed him a couple of times in the past but have never seen him look better.

It's obvious fatherhood (we talked about our kids), throwing away the cigarettes (he had a two pack a day habit at one point) and a happy marriage (his wife is gorgeous) really suit him.

Now back to chefs. Bourdain is often asked by many aspiring chefs -- attracted by what he calls "delusions of Food Network stardom" (hehe) -- advice on being one.

Here's what Anthony Bourdain has to say on that topic in his signature shooting straight from the hip style:
1 - Go to a good culinary school that means either Culinary Institute of America, Johnson and Wales or the French Culinary Institute.

2 - If you want to become a great chef do a stage in the great kitchens of the world and stay away from working at hotel kitchens and country clubs no matter how good the pay. Because once you enter the warm fold of their institutional embrace, Bourdain says, it's unlikely you'll ever leave. 

3- To real chefs the words "private" and "chef" do NOT go together. A private "chef" is domestic help, period. A glorified butler. Somewhere below "food stylist" and above "consultant" on the food chain. 

4- If you are 32 years old (or older) and considering a career as a chef, you are too old. 

5- If you are fat, you'll be at a considerable disadvantage when applying for a job in a busy kitchen. Why? Because the first few years -- if not the entirety of your career -- will involve running up and down stairs (quickly), carrying bus pans loaded with food and making hundreds of deep-knee bends a night into low-boy refrigerators. He makes it clear that you can GET fat in a kitchen-- over time-- but arriving fat from the get-go, that's a no-no.