12.2015 Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

Introduction:

Hooray! A memoir-type book. My favorite genre.
We live in an age where chefs are heralded as kitchen kings and Anthony Bourdain is a household name and mainstay on the travel channel. This was the book that put him and eventually the foodie lifestyle on the map.

Overview:

Last summer, The New Yorker published Chef Bourdain's shocking, "Don't Eat Before Reading This". Bourdain spared no one's appetite when he told all about what happens behind the kitchen door. Bourdain uses the same "take-no-prisoners" attitude in his deliciously funny and shockingly delectable book, sure to delight gourmands and philistines alike. From Bourdain's first oyster in the Gironde, to his lowly position as dishwasher in a honky--tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown (where he witnesses for the first time the real delights of being a chef); from the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center, to drug dealers in the East Village, from Tokyo to Paris and back to New York again, Bourdain's tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable. Kitchen Confidential will make your mouth water while your belly aches with laughter. You'll beg the chef for more, please.

Book Details:

Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: Ecco; Updated edition (January 9, 2007)Published: 05/22/2000
ISBN-10: 0060899220
ISBN-13: 978-0060899226

Get Book: 

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Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City

Book Club #8. Lesson: not all Pulitzer Prize winners are built the same.

About the Book:

Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City

 

 Summary: 

"In 1927, Henry Ford, the richest man in the world, bought a tract of land twice the size of Delaware in the Brazilian Amazon. His intention was to grow rubber, but the project rapidly evolved into a more ambitious bid to export America itself, along with its golf courses, ice-cream shops, bandstands, indoor plumbing, and Model Ts rolling down broad streets."

 

Characters:

• Henry Ford
• Amazonians
• Workers

 

Questions:

1. What did you think about the book and author's writing style?
2. What were Ford's motivations for his actions?
3. Was Fordlandia a success? What is it's current state?
4. What does this say about American capitalism? Can it be successful in other parts of the world?
5. What are the economic and worldwide ramifications of Ford's innovative method of manufacturing and production?

Conversation Summary:

Discussion topics:

• book was full of random facts and details not necessary for narrative
• author thorough in research but style was difficult to read- lack of flow, ending jumps to ethical questions in completely different realms such as US invading Iraq
• Henry Ford background and rise to power
• Ford appeared crazy. Do rich, powerful people all become crazy and lose touch with reality or does that thinking bring them to power?
• Ford's production style - simplify production down to basic components and put people in charge of a small component. Method may only be beneficial for certain type of work and not translatable to certain industries or types of products.
• American capitalism harmful to Amazonians and broke down traditional, cultural values and lifestyle. Ford personally tried to control lifestyles of all aspects of life for workers. Focus on money and competition. Monetary gain does not correlate with increased quality of life.
• Fordlandia was size of small state. Large chunk of Amazon destroyed and now facilities deserted. Interested in lives of people raised and lived in Fordlandia. Children raised and educated by Fordlandia rules, lack future outside of plant operations, though born and raised in Brazil lack local culture. 
• Fordlandia was a fail

2/3 bears finished book and 0/3 loved it

References:

1.  Fordlandia (2008) - man born and raised in Fordlandia returns to see facilities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2SpGRuwqA4

2. Interview with Greg Grandin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsKukVL3Hms

2. Fordlandia in the Amazon - al Jazeera report
http://wn.com/fordlandia_in_the_amazon