Product DescriptionThe author of The Soul of a Chef looks at the new role of the chef in contemporary culture
For his previous explorations into the restaurant kitchen and the men and women who call it home, Michael Ruhlman has been described by Anthony Bourdain as “the greatest living writer on the subject of chefs—and on the business of preparing food.” In The Reach of a Chef, Ruhlman examines the profound shift in American culture that has raised restaurant cooking to the level of performance art and the status of the chef to celebrity CEO. Bibliophiles and foodies alike will savor this intimate meeting with some of the most famous chefs in the kitchens of the hottest restaurants in the world.
What Others Say
uneven
When Ruhlman sticks to descriptions of the working of a restaurant kitchen, the food, and the chef, his writing is engaging and compelling. Unfortunately he has a tendency to lapse into discussing his own feelings about cooking and how profoundly his life was changed by writing about it, and when he does this he gets pretentious and repetitive. In his 2 previous book on the subject, Making of a Chef and Soul of a Chef, this was also true but in Reach of a Chef there is so much of it that it made the book hard to get through. How many times can you read about how veal stock changed his life before gagging? It also seems like he was lacking material and so added large sections that simply rehashed the material in the 2 first books, like a review ... Read More
Fame, money and identity in the land of famous chefs
This summer I finally got around to reading Michael Ruhlman's books on the art of cooking, and those who seek to do it professionally. Now I have reached the third book, which expands upon the idea, and takes a deep look at how the recent culinary boom is affecting how all of us eat today.
Ruhlman looks at the current phenomena that surround cooking, one of the most mundane tasks around. These days, food is very big business indeed. Flip on the television and not only are there instructional shows on nearly every sort of cuisine and course, but competition shows where the content ranges from sublime to just plain stupid, reality shows that have a famous chef or two wandering the world in search of new tastes and cultures, or watching ... Read More
