No Experience Necessary, Norman Van Aken
No Experience Necessary, Norman Van Aken
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No Experience Necessary
The Culinary Odyssey of Chef Norman Van Aken

Author: Norman Van Aken

Narrator: Norman Van Aken

Unabridged: 12 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 12/07/2013

Synopsis

No Experience Necessary is Chef Norman Van Aken' s joyride of a memoir. In it he spans twenty-plus years and nearly as many jobs-- including the fateful job advertisement in the local paper for a short-order cook with " no experience necessary." Long considered a culinary renegade and a pioneering chef, Van Aken is an American original who chopped and charred, sweated and seared his way to cooking stardom with no formal training, but with extra helpings of energy, creativity, and faith. After landing on the deceptively breezy shores of Key West, Van Aken faced hurricanes, economic downturns, and mercurial moneymen during the decades when a restaurant could open and close faster than you can type haute cuisine. From a graveyard shift grunt at an all-night barbeque joint to a James Beard- award finalist for best restaurant in America, Van Aken put his trusting heart, poetic soul, natural talent, and ever-expanding experience into every venture-- and helped transform the American culinary landscape along the way. In the irreverent tradition of Anthony Bourdain' s Kitchen Confidential, and populated by a rogues' gallery of colorful characters-- including movie stars, legendary musicians, and culinary giants Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, and Charlie Trotter-- No Experience Necessary offers a uniquely personal, highly-entertaining under-the-tablecloth view of the high-stakes world of American cuisine told with wit, insight, and great affection by a natural storyteller.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Caitlin on December 01, 2013

I wanted to like NO Experience Necessary a lot more than I did. It was definitely fun - chock full of stories and recipes. The book feels like you're hanging out on a bar stool listening to Mr. Van Aken tells stories on a long summer night and this is a plus, but much of the book rambles about and m......more

Goodreads review by Judie on December 25, 2013

I have read many books written by chefs and food critics and have generally found them very interesting, well-written, and worthwhile. I cannot say the same about NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY by Norman Van Aken. I completed only three chapters, then skipped ahead several times to see if I would be able t......more

Goodreads review by Laurel on March 12, 2016

The flow of this memoir made it a frustrating read. I enjoyed the first 200 or so pages when we learn how the chef got his start and discovered his passion for cooking. Then the book becomes rushed, lacking, previously engaging details, moving too quickly through the story of his failed Key West res......more

Goodreads review by Melissa (Catching Up After Vacation) on September 25, 2020

I've read quite a few chef memoirs, and this one suffers from some of the same features--I wonder if becoming a chef requires certain personality traits? I enjoyed the parts where he details how he became a chef and worked his way up in the culinary world. What I didn't enjoy was his pretentious per......more

Goodreads review by Norma on April 24, 2023

( Format : Audiobook ) "With a little help from.my friends." From early days and childhood friends, of travelling around, hitching his way, of falling for Key West, and wife to be, Janet and eventually realising that what he wanted to do was cook and his compulsion to bring out his own dishes, to suc......more

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