Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

After starting Kitchen Confidential, I was ready to swear off restaurants. It sounded like the "norm" was for a bunch of staff to work just enough to get their next hit of drugs. Calling in sick was a no-no, so who knows the condition of the people making your food. There could be some random thing in there. The restaurant may be trying to move some nasty products that they had too much of. It was not a good site.

He also did discuss the good side. The restaurant business has a diverse group of people working together. There are opportunities in there for people to grow. Honesty and dependability are extremely important. There are many restaurateurs that have an extreme love for food. They want to make things that are truly great. (Though there are are also strong opinions as to what is "great".) 

I wonder how his experiences compare to others in the industry? The book discusses an extreme underbelly. Is this normal? Or was this more of the "bad part" of the restaurant industry.