Kitchen Confidential
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdainby Anthony Bourdain
Shares rank 4 of 25 memoirs by recommenders
Readers recommend it as an honest, vivid look at restaurant kitchen life, written by someone who worked at every level of the profession.
Readers recommend it as an honest, vivid look at restaurant kitchen life, written by someone who worked at every level of the profession.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Highly recommended, excellent read
“Kitchen Confidential is an excellent read. Any reader will come away having healthy respect and fear of the restaurant industry.”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Anthony Bourdain's Lost Li.st's” “It's still one of my favorite books, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.”
Comment from 30 Nov 2025 in “Anthony Bourdain's Lost Li.st's” “I highly recommend reading kitchen confidential. It is a great book.”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Anthony Bourdain's Lost Li.st's” Honest, accurate portrait of kitchen culture
“Kitchen Confidential is an excellent read. Any reader will come away having healthy respect and fear of the restaurant industry.”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Anthony Bourdain's Lost Li.st's” “He wrote honestly about a profession he worked at all levels.”
Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “Recovering Anthony Bourdain's Li.st's” “Totally nails kitchen culture.”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Anthony Bourdain's Lost Li.st's”
Other memoirs people recommend
The four most recommended other memoirs, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Careless Peopleby Sarah Wynn-Williams | 106 | 24 | 82% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Man's Search for Meaningby Viktor Frankl | 13 | 2 | 87% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!by Richard Feynman | 11 | 7 | 61% | 6 | — | — |
| Kitchen Confidentialby Anthony BourdainThis page | 9 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Down and Out in Paris and Londonby George Orwell | 9 | 1 | 90% | 8 | — | — |
What people said
8 of the 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I like how it pulled in a section from Kitchen Confidential in between oil trade bottlenecks and software team constraints to illustrate the general principle.”
“He wrote a fun book (Kitchen Confidential, which I enjoyed) and it was downhill from there.”
“He wrote honestly about a profession he worked at all levels.”
“His book Kitchen Confidential read like a war memoir/crime novel.”
“Kitchen Confidential is an excellent read. Any reader will come away having healthy respect and fear of the restaurant industry.”
“I highly recommend reading kitchen confidential. It is a great book.”
“It's still one of my favorite books, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.”
“Totally nails kitchen culture.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.