In the Kitchen with Ramsay, On the Road with Bourdain

Categories: Cookbooks , Entertainment , Nonfiction

Gordon Ramsay certainly speaks his mind. But you know, he is almost always right! What I have discovered, however, is that this talented and volatile chef is a very nice man underneath all that bravado, and an excellent teacher as well.

Besides being a television personality on popular shows in Britain (Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares) and the US (reality series Hell's Kitchen and the soon-to-be-aired Kitchen Nightmares), Chef Ramsay has published lots of cookbooks and a couple of autobiographical books that read like novels. He has also opened and run a number of restaurants, earning lots of Michelin ratings. 

Anthony Bourdain, another TV chef, has a fascinatingly cynical view of life and the world of food. His documentary-style series on the Travel Channel, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, follows Bourdain around the world in pursuit of flavor. He, too, has lots of books to his name, including novels, cookbooks, and memoirs such as the fascinating Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. He cooks at the Brassiere Les Halles in New York City.

I freely admit my addiction to reality TV, and Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen is riveting. Through the process of elimination (sometimes loud, insulting elimination) one aspiring chef will come out at the top of the game and be awarded the position of Chef in a "fine dining" restaurant. While the cooking is a tremendous challenge, it is not too difficult for these chefs. The difficult part is the interpersonal situation, being put onto teams with people who do not work well together as well as dealing with Ramsay's blunt criticism. To be fair, he is also quick to praise.

This season's series has concluded, with (believe it or not) a happy ending. Rock, a long-time chef, won out over Bonnie, a nanny and personal chef. It was a close one to the finish, but everyone seemed to be happy with the results. Rock will now run his own restaurant at the Green Valley Ranch Resort in Las Vegas.

Also very real but more in the genre of a documentary, Anthony Bourdain travels around the world, eating and learning. His episode in Brazil mellowed the cynicism right out of him, and in another episode he was nearly speechless at the beauty of northern Vietnam. The food is the uniting factor, and, sometimes reluctantly but always gamely, he does eat the local food. My favorite quote, upon eating a local favorite sandwich in Sao Paulo, was, "I don't know what it is. I only know that it is so good that I must have it!"

I can identify with that.