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| HUMBLE
PIE by Gordon Ramsay |
BOOK
REVIEW |
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To
order a copy of Humble Pie <click
here>
Review written by Hub-UK
 I
didn't get around to getting a review copy of Humble
Pie when it was first published in hardback but still
wanting to read it I have just bought the paperback.
I had decided it was too late to write a review so I
had bought the book purely for my own interest.
Just
before I started reading Humble Pie I had been reading
a crime thriller (a top seller) about which the Daily
Express wrote "Grips from the first page until
the final deeply satisfying sentence". I was reminded
of this as I read Humble Pie because I had found the
crime thriller less than gripping but Humble Pie . .
. I couldn't put it down!
Which
is why you now find me writing a review. It is a book
well worth reading if you have any interest in those
who cook for a living or the culture of the celebrity
chef.
I
have to confess my early reaction to Gordon Ramsay,
when he first started to be seen on TV, was not good.
As a result I avoided watching him and read very little
about him. The occasional TV trailer or newspaper headline
would be sufficient to confirm my snap judgement was
right.
With
that attitude I would never have read Humble Pie but
some time last year I sat down and watched an episode
of Kitchen Nightmares. That made me sit up I can tell
you. Here was someone who was nothing like my perception
and this was good interesting TV, a real change from
some of the more bland celebrity chefs that are getting
churned out in an attempt to find a new Rick Stein or
Keith Floyd.
The
strange thing about living in the UK is the way we all
snipe at success. We love the star in the ascendancy
but once it arrives we all want to put it down and bring
it down. Is it jealousy of another's success? Certainly
there is plenty of sniping and attacking Gordon Ramsay
by the different media and it would be hard to find
someone who has not heard of him and doesn't have an
opinion to express!
A
lot of these opinions are based on the hype that has
surrounded him, especially the language. (The way everyone
goes on you would think he was the only chef to use
bad language!). I have to say I was one of those people
with the wrong opinion for which I do not apologise.
Instead I blame all those PR people who have hyped Gordon
Ramsay as something and someone he isn't.
Read
the book and you will see what I mean. Like the rest
of us Gordon Ramsay is a human being and it shows throughout
the book from start to finish, the love he shows for
his mother to the support he has tried to give to his
heroin addicted younger brother. Not that he is any
mister softy.
To
get where he is today Gordon has had to demonstrate
a singular determination to succeed and to learn his
trade. Would you have given up a top position as a London
chef to go to France and start at the bottom again so
that you could gain further experience and learn more?
Not me! I would have been too stubborn and proud. Yet
Gordon Ramsay did exactly this. Having been Sous Chef
to Marco Pierre White, when his restaurant was leading
the way in London, he gave it all up to start in Paris
as a Commis Chef . . . taking all the shit arrogant
French chefs could throw his way in pursuit of excellence.
Gordon
Ramsay deserves all the success he has achieved. He
has served his time and worked for it, and along the
way he has gone through a lot of personal grief to get
there, all of which is included in Humble Pie.
Someone
to admire and respect. One of life's achievers. Don't
believe me? Well read the f***ing book then!
Photographs
courtesy of Dave Pullig - taken at Taste of London
2006
To see Dave Pulli's range of photographs <click
here>
To
order a copy of Humble Pie <click
here>
This
is the correct spelling of Gordon Ramsay
and not as many people spell it, Gordon Ramsey.
Published
28 June 2007
Email
Hub-UK : info@hub-uk.com
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