There’s a scene in the TV kitchen drama The Bear where one character confronts the head chef: “You’re an excellent chef. You are also a piece of shit.” You can guess the type of guy she’s talking about — tattooed and testosteroned, pursuing culinary greatness and pursued by his demons.
The cliché of the maverick chef is now as familiar as the maverick detective. It is invigorated by the memory of Anthony Bourdain, described in the journalist Charles Leerhsen’s new tell-all biography as “a crash test dummy extraordinaire”.
