at The New York Public Library (455 5th Avenue, New York City)
Conceived in the spirit of Kitchen Confidential and Heat, Four Kitchens is the first book in which a young woman takes readers inside the hyper-masculine world of restaurant kitchens. Lauren Shockey decided to quit the 9-to-5 grind, take out massive loans, and attend cooking school. At the French Culinary Institute, Lauren learned a lot but mostly that a real culinary education begins once you’re actually working in a restaurant. After a disappointing start in rural France Lauren hatched a plan for her dream year: to apprentice in four kitchens around the world. She starts in her hometown of New York City, where she works under the famed chef Wylie Dufresne and then heads to Vietnam, Israel, and back to France, each setting presenting its own set of challenges, from language barriers to stronger-than-usual resistance to a woman in a professional kitchen. As she grows into a more accomplished and confident cook, the reader follows the yearlong challenges and adventures of one extremely bright and restless young woman against a background drama of restaurant life.
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