32 Yolks by Eric Ripert

The more chef's memoirs that I read, the more it seems that in order to become wildly successful as a chef you need to come from a miserable family situation. Eric Ripert's father was a charismatic cad and his ambitious mother kicked him to the curb after the serial philandering became too much for her. He never had much contact with his father afterwards, and when his mother remarried to a sycophant who wanted to kick the child from her previous marriage to the curb, mom did not much resist, and in a lot of ways, maybe he was less damaged by being abused by non-family than being ignored by his mother. In any case, he had great grandparents who cooked well (as did his mother) and his love of food and creating food set him on a successful path early on. Which is not to imply that he didn't work hard--he very much did, and in the atmosphere where abuse was the norm and praise was hard, if not impossible, to come by. The one thing that I do not know is did he take his own experience and become a better boss because of it--he implies that happened, but that is the part of the story that is untold. This is well written and it is a well told story. I would definitely recommend it, but it will not leave you regretting that you did not choose a chef's path.