Featuring Rare Photographs by Iconic Photographer Jake Chessum,
A New Preface by Bourdain’s HUNGRY GHOST Co-Writer Editor Joel Rose,
and an All-New Portrait of Bourdain By Legendary Artist Paul Pope
(October 13, 2026) American chef Anthony Bourdain’s outrageous and funny memoir of his life and travels as a mercurial chef introduced readers to an intoxicating, claustrophobic subculture of sex, drugs and bad behaviour in kitchens, revealing what really goes on behind the scenes in a restaurant. The eye-opening book accelerated the meteoric rise of the food-writing phenomenon and is beloved by foodies and fans everywhere more than twenty-five years after it was first published. Now this fall, the Folio Society, independent publisher of beautifully illustrated hardback books, will publish Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, a collectible and definitive edition featuring stunning photography by Jake Chessum taken on a two-day shoot in New York in 2008, an all-new preface by Bourdain’s Hungry Ghosts co-writer and longtime friend Joel Rose, and a portrait of Bourdain by his friend, the legendary artist Paul Pope. The Folio Society edition of Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly will be available exclusively on the Folio Society’s website on October 13, 2026.
“Tony and I worked together many times, over many books, and from the day he climbed the stairs and walked into my life, I believed in his natural voice,” says Joel Rose in the edition’s preface. “Having the opportunity to go back to Kitchen Confidential today, I cannot urge you strongly enough to make note of Anthony Bourdain’s voice, before it became a public instrument, before CNN, before the Food Network, when Tony’s power lay in the precision and intimacy of his prose, in his ability to trust himself enough to speak from both heart and mind.”
The Folio Society edition of Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly features a cover, slipcase and endpapers designed by Kishan Rajani, incorporating Jake Chessum’s photography on the cover as well as an adapted food list in Bourdain’s handwriting on the slipcase. The edition includes 12 stunning, rare photos by Chessum, a photographer whose extensive portfolio includes definitive imagery of Bill Gates, Kate Moss, Brad Pitt, The Strokes, Amy Winehouse, and President Obama. The book also features gilded edges, blocked cloth binding, and a generous cookbook-style format, making the most of the integrated photographs which mostly appear as double-page spreads. The book also includes an all-new illustration of Bourdain by the bestselling, award-winning artist Paul Pope, which was commissioned specifically for this edition.
“Tony was a special person and I’m glad I got to know him and work with him,” said Paul Pope. “I wanted to evoke his young days with a bit of an expressionist/punk portrait combining lower east side New York and the music which he loved. Bourdain forever forever Bourdain.”
Before celebrity chefs and glossy cooking shows, there was Anthony Bourdain—swaggering through the chaos of professional kitchens with sharp knives, sharper wit and very little sleep. Part memoir, part exposé, part love letter to the trade, Kitchen Confidential traces Bourdain’s journey through the culinary profession, from his first greasy dishwashing job on Cape Cod to New York’s high-pressure fine-dining scene. With its unapologetic candour, outrageous anecdotes and hard-won wisdom, Kitchen Confidential remains one of the most iconic and influential books ever written about food, restaurant culture and the working lives behind it all.
“Told in Bourdain’s signature exhilarating, full-throttle, and sharply funny style, Kitchen Confidential remains so compelling after all these years because its pages teem with the authenticity, passion, and generosity of spirit of its iconic author,” said Editor Mandy Kirkby. “Restaurant kitchen culture has changed since its writing, but some things remain: brunch is usually a rip off, chicken is for scaredy cats and the undiscerning, and shellfish is a bad idea in an empty restaurant, whatever the day of the week. It’s not a cookbook—and not even a book about food, per se—but it will definitely leave you feeling hungry.”
The Folio Society edition of Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly will be available for £85 / US $130 from 4pm UK time (11am EST, 8am PT) on October 13, 2026 exclusively from https://www.foliosociety.com/.
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