Anyone read The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Lisa Abend: http://www.amazon.com/The-Sorcerers-Apprentices-Kitchen-elBulli/dp/B005GNJ1PQ
I am not a foodie - I love food, love cooking, but am a pragmatic meal-preparer more than a cook, per se (Per Se!).
But I know the foodie world, and enjoy a good food experience, so I picked up this book for a decent read. And you know what - it was really engaging! It establishes that it’s intent is not to question Ferran Adria - elBulli’s chef - as commanding the top tier of chefs-as-artists. He’s the man - but watching what folks give up and go through to be a stagiaire for free at the world’s most famous restaurant is remarkable.
It does a good job keeping us immersed in the utter, repetitive monotony of this particular kitchen - and regularly pulls back to consider why that is an essential part of the equation. How it influences the art aspects - and whether food *can *be art.
I did a search in CS and couldn’t find it referenced - anyone else read it? I found it as an engaging as Kitchen Confidential, but for very different reasons - a different type of Inside Baseball.