Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain - A 15-minute Instaread Summary: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

Nine-year-old Anthony became a foodie when his father took the family on a trip to his native France. A fisherman took the family out on his boat one day. He asked if anyone wanted to try a  raw oyster. Everyone else squirmed, so Anthony, in an attempt to shock his family, ate one and enjoyed it. That day he got hooked on culinary adventuring.

At eighteen, Bourdain was spoiled and undisciplined. He was  attending, and failing, Vassar College where he spent his time smoking pot, drinking, and trying to outrage people. He ended up in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 1974, as a dishwasher at the Dreadnaught, a typical New England seafood shack. The management was laissez-faire with the waitresses handing out free drinks and sexual favors. To Bourdain, the four cooks were gods who dressed and acted like pirates. Bourdain was enchanted by the kitchen life. He was promoted to the salad station.