The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones
by Anthony Bourdain
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Book Summary Information
Author: Anthony BourdainEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-05-01
ISBN: 1596913606
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9781596913608
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Book Reviews of The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones
Book Review: Having His Cake and then Eating it
Summary: 4 Stars
The Nasty Bits is largely a collection of previously-published pieces, some of which appeared in different form. They deal with all aspects of foodiedom--international cuisines, celebrity chefs, indigenous vs. scientific cookery, PETA, kitchen demographics . . . you name it, it's here and it's described with Tony's incisive, knowledgeable, snarky, politically incorrect, hypercritical, sometimes worshipful style. The language is rated R and so is some of the content.
Interestingly, the separate pieces are followed by a commentary section in which Tony looks back over the pieces, contextualizes them in time and, in some cases, criticizes them harshly. This is very sneaky, in that it gives him the chance to have his cake and then enjoy eating it. A piece on New York, for example, celebrates the pre-Giuliani days of dope, danger, sex, belligerent panhandlers and general atmosphere of personal threat. Then, in the commentary section, he describes it as glib and over-romanticized. "What a twat I was when I wrote this," he confesses. The result is that when a reader disagrees or is offended with him, he turns around and congratulates the reader in the commentary section, saying, in effect, `You're right; I was a jerk to say that.'
He walks a delicate line, of course. As I've said of his other books, we read them not just for the information and the insight, but to enter Tony's world, to hear his unique voice and receive his unique take on things. If he is tamed (as he is by the commentary section) we lose something of the authentic Tony. At the same time, the authentic Tony is indeed sometimes juvenile and off-putting, as for example in his piece on Singapore where he assures us of his gratefulness for the availability of oral sex in a place which criminalizes it. The Nasty Bits is not nasty to a fault. It is interesting throughout and when it steps over the line the `commentary' section puts things right again.
Bonus: the book includes a fictional Christmas story that draws together a number of issues raised in the book (celebrity chefdom, the economic conditions of the Manhattan food scene, the competitiveness therein and the need for luck and good timing). Double bonus: it has a happy ending.
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Summary of The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones
In the multiweek New York Times bestseller The Nasty Bits, bestselling chef and No Reservations host Anthony Bourdain serves up a well-seasoned hellbroth of candid, often outrageous stories from his worldwide misadventures. Whether surviving a lethal hot pot in Chengdu, splurging on New York?s priciest sushi, or singing the praises of Ecuadorian line cooks and Hell?s Kitchen dives, Bourdain is as provocative, engaging, and opinionated as ever. The Nasty Bits is an irresistible tasting menu of food writing at its outrageous best?served up Bourdain style.
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