Celeb chef Bourdain to launch a book line
Kitchen’s bad boy will have name on books by authors he chose
In a commercial venture reminiscent of branding queens Paula Deen and Rachael Ray, who seem to have never met a piece of kitchen equipment or product they didn’t put their name on, comes this announcement from Ecco books:
Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain will have his own book imprint. The cooking bad boy is joining the rare ranks of literary editors who handpick authors and whose names appear on their books. In his case, the volumes will read “An Anthony Bourdain book.” We assume the authors will be telling their stories in the blunt, if not profane, manner that Bourdain made popular in his books, from the first, Kitchen Confidential, to the more recent Medium Raw. (Ecco books, through PR spokesman Michael Mckenzie, noted that it’s “too early to know at this point” what the language will be like.) Bourdain is the host of the Travel Channel’s No Reservations and The Layover, where his choice of words is occasionally bleeped for TV. In the press release from Ecco, Bourdain states, “This will be a line of books for people with strong voices who are good at something — who speak with authority. Discern nothing from this initial list — other than a general affection for people who cook food and like food. The ability to kick people in the head is just as compelling to us — as long as that’s coupled with an ability to vividly describe the experience. We are just as intent on crossing genres as we are enthusiastic about our first three authors. It only gets weirder from here.”
The first three in Bourdain’s line of books, to be published in 2013, are as follows:
Spaghetti Junction, by Roy Choi, chef and co-founder of the Kogi BBQ food trucks in Los Angeles. The memoir with recipes is about street food in Los Angeles.
Prophets of Smoked Meat, by Daniel Vaughn, a tour of classic Texas barbecue spots, with recipes.
Fight Shark, by Mark Miller, a kick-boxing champion whose memoir tells the story of his personal and professional battles. (Bourdain’s wife, Ottavia Busia Bourdain, is a student of kick-boxing.)