Anthony Bourdain's no holds barred exposé of the restaurant trade. A high octane culinary adventure set in New York, dramatised by Marcy Kahan.

Kitchen Confidential was a sensation on publication in 2000, taking the reader right to the heart of a sweaty, noisy, fast and furious cooking station with a fiery, likeable anti-hero protagonist. This radio dramatisation is a full-on behind the scenes tour of a range of kitchens, which questions why anyone would want to lead the exhausting, adrenalin-fuelled, harsh and precarious life of a restaurant chef. Marcy Kahan's clever dramatisation brings out the tenderness and real passion of its writer, as well as his high-octane roller coaster career.

Episode 1: Vichyssoise
Anthony is tucked away in a store room of his restaurant Les Halles, tapping out his book. He is telling us why we should never order fish on Monday, when his great friend and colleague Dimitri interrupts - they need to prep the day's ingredients. Then, all of a sudden, Anthony's Mother pipes up, taking him back to his seminal childhood holiday in France, when he first encountered cold soup and oysters. A chef is born.

The dramatist Marcy Kahan is an award-winning radio and theatre playwright and screenwriter. Her plays include 20 Cigarettes (Soho Theatre, 2007), a stage version of Nora Ephron's When Harry Met Sally (Theatre Royal, Haymarket, 2005) and Intimate Memoirs of An Irish Taxidermist (Perrier award, 1986 Edinburgh Festival). Marcy's screenplay Antonia and Jane was the first television film to be given cinematic distribution by Miramax and won a Gold Plaque award for best original screenplay at the 1991 Chicago Film Festival.

Anthony Bourdain .... Michael Esper
Dimitri .... Sargon Yelda
Mother .... Barbara Barnes

Dramatised by Marcy Kahan
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Producer: Polly Thomas
Executive Producer: Robert Abel

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in May 2017. Show less