The Cook, Maylis de Kerangal, tr. Sam Taylor

 I was just talking to some friends last night about the restaurant industry world, and what a unique ecosystem it is. They were surprised to hear that I had never really been an industry worker, because my partner was one for 10+ years. As I explained, it helped a lot that I was in grad school at the time — one of the few other (bizarre) ecosystems that has an extremely variable schedule, such that, sure, I can meet you out for drinks at 1am, why not? 

So I got to know the industry over the years, sort of, but from the outside. I haven't lived it, but I've heard lots and lots and lots of stories, and learned a bit about how things work (and how messed up they are). And after a few years of that — and especially after starting to read various industry memoirs and other such things — I also started to realize that many people (most people!) don't know this stuff! And it's actually kind of amazing, just how unaware so much of our society is about the day-to-day realities of workers in this entire, massive portion of the economy. You see this, especially, in a lot of the conversation around AOC and her bartending experience. But the pandemic also lays bare, both how unbelievably difficult (and exploitative) the economics of restaurants are, and how clueless so many people (including lawmakers!) are about it. Why aren't they re-opening, they can now seat at 50% capacity? Because  they can't make enough of a profit to stay open at 50% capacity!!

Ok, but why am I on this soapbox about the industry? (I was intending it to be more meditation than rant, ooops) It's because this slim novella is the story of a chef named Mauro. And so it's (ostensibly) about the industry. I love reading about this world, because there are so many fascinating things to explore about how it works — not just the economic stuff I mentioned (though that is interesting, especially if you're the angry marxist type), but also the nature of the labor (grueling, repetitive, but also artistic), the characters (SUCH characters), the inter-personal dynamics — so much good material! Plus, it's an opportunity to have lots of descriptions of FOOD. What's not to love?

So this book is what happens if you write about the industry, and...don't do any of that.

I don't like being negative about books, especially literature in translation, unless it's already massively popular and really doesn't need more support, so I'm just going to stop there. Not a must-read!