First published 2025
Laurie Woolever charts her journey from small-town roots to the heart of America's restaurant scene. She works alongside two industry titans, Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain, while struggling to establish her own identity in their shadows. Her personal life mirrors the chaos of professional kitchens. She makes questionable choices that create pleasurable disasters. Her travels take her from Atlantic City strip clubs to Tokyo's Park Hyatt, from vegetarian co-ops to Spain's legendary El Bulli. Work consumes her energy as she questions her feelings about marriage and motherhood. The food industry faces a reckoning that topples her mentors from their pedestals. Woolever must decide where she fits in this toxic yet magnetic world. She fights to preserve what matters most in her career.
Genres: memoir, biography-memoir, food-writing, culinary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Atlantic City, El Bulli, Park Hyatt Tokyo, Spain, Tokyo
Period: 21st-century
352 pages · Hardcover · Ecco