An ok read, which certainly dispels the myth of glamour in professional kitchens. However it gets very repetitive very fast and lacks excitement. She supplies some recipes inspired by the restaurants she's worked in, but none of them made me want to put down the book and go make them. And whilst I like the peak inside the restaurant life itself, I never really liked the tone (or the person) delivering them.

Excellent memoir with some yummy-sounding recipes. I really enjoyed this. I enjoyed the women's perspective of the restaurant kitchen.

Very enjoyable book about a culinary journey around the world. The autheor spent time in four countries learning to cook their cousine and trying to learn as much as she could about herself as a chef and the culture behind the food - a fascinating look at the author's personal journey and the intersting things (and people) that go on behind the scenes in restaurant kitchens. This was my first exposure to the concept of moleculor gastronomy, which I found quite interesting (and I must admit, a little scary). The section i nVietnam was probably my favorite, which surprised me, as I have not historically been drawn to Asian cusine, but her stories abotu the people, the food, and the places she saw made me want to visit that country and experience it for myself. The ultimate conclusion for this autheor was that her passion lay i nthe cooking process itself, and her own creativity, and the opportunity to share food with loved ones and friends. This untilmately started as a Chef learning about cooking, and ended as a cook finding the reason for her passion. Initally I was disappointed that after all of that, she was not going to work in a kitchen, but after more thought, I find it much wiser that she ultimatly chose to allow cooking to be a shared passion in her life rather than to become a mundance and repetitive action she would dread doing on a daily basis in a tradtional Chef capacity.

I have recently started reading more and more different kind of memoirs and when I saw this one for review I decided to go for it. While it doesn't hold me rapt like my currently favorite, travel memoirs, it definitely added a different take to what I have been reading. I loved the author's attention to detail through out the story and even though the book ended the way it did you can feel the author's passion for food in every page.

I enjoyed the recipes from Ms. Shockey's travels, she includes quite a few beautiful looking recipes at the end of each chapter which will make this book for many a kitchen friend instead of a book to sit on the library shelf. I enjoyed meeting each new character with the author, she has a flare for people like she does for food.

Now, you are wondering why only three stars. The book is well written but just a good story. It didn't make me jump up and down and feel the emotions that the author felt as she traveled to a new place, made a new dish, or got hurt in her path to find love. I wanted these things but...they never showed.

Interesting read in real restaurant kitchens, but there's a part of me that is more interested in what goes on in the brains of restaurant chefs and the author finds out that is not for her. Luckily, she writes well!

Really enjoyed this, and did not experience the same "author personality" problems I've seen in some reviews. Kind of cool having recipes included as well. I'm amazed someone would do so many unpaid apprenticeships, but I guess she figured out what she didn't want to do.

Nice. Not too snotty, had some fun parts. Sort of a lite version of Debra Ginsberg or Katherine Darling.