Anthony Bourdain Books In Order

Publication Order of Cookbooks

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Get Jiro Graphic Novels

Publication Order of Hungry Ghosts Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Chef and award winning journalist Anthony Michael Bourdain was born June 25, 1956 in New York City, New York, and spent much of his childhood in Leonia, New Jersey. He was called Tony by his friends. During his childhood, he was a Boy Scout. He was the oldest of two sons of Gladys Bourdain (nee Sacksman, a staff editor for The New York Times) and Pierre Bourdain (worked as an executive for Columbia Records). His little brother, Christopher, appeared on some of his television series and is a currency analyst. He died while in France filming “Parts Unknown” on June 8, 2018.

He graduated from Dwight-Englewood School, and then went to Vassar College, before dropping out after just two years.

During his time at Vassar, he worked at some seafood restaurants in Provincetown, Massachusetts; it was here that he decided to pursue cooking as a career. He went to The Culinary Institute of America, and graduated in the year 1978. He would run some restaurant kitchens in New York City, such as: Sullivan’s, Supper Club, and One Fifth Avenue.

In the sixties, he would go see films and talk about them in restaurants. He also once wrote that his love of food was awakened when he tried his first oyster on a fisherman’s boat while his family was on vacation in France.

Despite not being raised with religion, on his mother’s side he was Jewish and on his father’s, Catholic. His father’s parents were French, and his dad’s father emigrated to New York from Arcachon after World War I. Anthony’s dad grew up speaking French and spent a lot of summers in France.

In the year 1998, he became the executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles, which is based in Manhattan, with additional places in Tokyo, Miami, and Washington D. C. He was the executive chef there for some time, and maintained a relationship with them, even after his formal employment ended. He was considered as their “chef-at-large” in the year 2014.

His 1999 article called “Don’t Eat Before Reading This”, published in the New Yorker was expanded into his book “Kitchen Confidential”. This was his first book, and it was released in the year 2000. Besides writing non-fiction books about food, he wrote fiction, largely featuring food in some way.

From 2002 until 2018, he had four television series on various networks. There was: “A Cook’s Tour”, “No Reservations”, “The Layover”, and “Parts Unknown”. The first show came about due to the acclaim that came from Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential”.

In the year 1985, he married Nancy Putkoski (his high school girlfriend), but divorced in the year 2005. In the year 2007, he and Ottavia Busia (a mixed martial artist), and that same year, their daughter, Ariane, was born. At one time, he had a two pack a day habit, but the year she was born, he quit smoking for her.

For his book “Kitchen Confidential”, Bourdain was named the Food Writer of the Year in the year 2001 by Bon Appetit magazine. British Guild of Food Writers named “A Cook’s Tour” Food Book of the Year.

“Parts Unknown” won a Peabody in the year 2014, which Bourdain accepted. He also won three Emmy Awards in a row, from 2013 until 2015 for Outstanding Host for his work on the competition series “The Taste”.

“Get Jiro” is the first “Get Jiro” graphic novel and was released in the year 2012. In the future, master chefs rule Los Angeles like crime lords and people actually kill for seats at the greatest restaurants. All the while, there is a bloody culinary war raging.

There is the Internationalists, who blend all kinds of food from all over the world into some of the most exotic foods. There is also the “Vertical Farm” who make nothing but vegetarian and organic and macrobiotic dishes. Into all of this chaos steps Jiro, who is a ruthless renegade sushi chef; he has been known to decapitate some patrons who have asked for a California Roll or put wasabi into their soy sauce. Jiro is wanted by both sides, he however has ideas of his own. In the end, there may not be anyone left alive.

“Get Jiro: Blood and Sushi” is the second “Get Jiro” graphic novel and was released in the year 2015. In this, mysterious Jiro is examined more closely to see what made him the chef he is today. He is the heir to one of the Yakuza crime families. Jiro never longed to walk the path of the criminal that was laid out before him. Instead he wanted to secretly study his homeland’s rich culinary history. It is something that would have huge repercussions if his gangster dad found out.

“Kitchen Confidential” is the first book, which was released in the year 2000. This is deliciously funny, and quite shocking set of wild, yet true stories of life in the culinary trade that come from Chef Anthony Bourdain. All while he lays out his quarter century plus of sex, drugs, and haute cuisine. He gives his secrets away in this wickedly funny and inspiring expose and memoir.

Fans found themselves learning a lot about this specific culture and the book is quite atmospheric. It is a vivid and excellent read.

“A Cook’s Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal” is the second book, which was released in the year 2001. The only thing that Anthony Bourdain, gonzo gastronome, loves just as much as cooking food is traveling. He is inspired by a question about what the perfect meal would be. Bourdain goes off on a quest to find his own culinary holy grail, and turns “perfection” inside out. The book chronicles his journey from California to Cambodia on these unpredictable adventures of the boldest and bravest chef in America.

Fans found that Bourdain’s attitude comes through a lot in the book, which is quite a bit of his charm. The guy writes a damn good story, and is able to write about food in an incredible way. His kind of writing is not for those who are squeamish at all, as he does not pull any punches.