What do you think?
Rate this book
Kitchens: The Culture of Restaurant Work
Kitchens takes us into the robust, overheated, backstage world of the contemporary restaurant. In this rich, often surprising portrait of the real lives of kitchen workers, Gary Alan Fine brings their experiences, challenges, and satisfactions to colorful life. He provides a riveting exploration of how restaurants actually work, both individually and as part of a larger culinary culture. Working conditions, time constraints, market forces, and aesthetic goals all figure into the food served to customers—who often don't know quite what they're getting.
The kitchen is a place of constant compromise, of quirks, approximations, dirty tricks, surprises, and short cuts, as Fine demonstrates in his deft, readable narrative. He brings to life the complicated relationships among kitchen workers—servers, dishwashers, pantry workers, managers, restaurant critics, and customers—and reveals the effects of organizational structure on individual relations.
The kitchen is a place of constant compromise, of quirks, approximations, dirty tricks, surprises, and short cuts, as Fine demonstrates in his deft, readable narrative. He brings to life the complicated relationships among kitchen workers—servers, dishwashers, pantry workers, managers, restaurant critics, and customers—and reveals the effects of organizational structure on individual relations.
- GenresFoodSociologyNonfiction
320 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1996
6 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
Gary Alan Fine
38 books9 followersGary Alan Fine is Professor of Sociology at Northwestern University. He is the author of Morel Tales: The Culture of Mushrooming, Kitchens: The Culture of Restaurant Work, and With the Boys: Little League Baseball and Preadolescent Culture.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Read
May 27, 2022Essay for Inside Work Cultures course at Aalto University.
This book is the product of research based on participant observation and in-depth interviewing in four restaurants located within the twin cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota, United States. The author spent a month in the kitchen of each restaurant, present at all times the restaurant was open, and interview all its full-time cooks, besides other workers. In his analysis, the author uses a negotiated order perspective, which is the approach of the interactionist understanding of organizations. As stated by the author, the purpose of this book is to present an “organizational sociology that is grounded in interactionist and cultural concerns but does justice to the reality of the organization and the equal, insistent reality of the environment outside the organization”.
The four restaurants involved in the author’s research were: (1) Le Pomme de Terre, considered one of the best, finest, and most creative haute cuisine restaurants in the twin cities; (2) The Owl’s Nest, a continental restaurant characterized by their elegance catering primarily to an upper-middle-class clientele; (3) Stan Steakhouse, catering primarily to middle-aged of lower-middle-class clients; (4) The Twin Cities Backlemore Hotel, a restaurant judge subpar to the hotel industry standards. Caters primarily to business travelers.
Two of the most consequential aspects of culture reported in this book are the temporal structure of the workday and the worker’s quality production and aesthetic standards. In the following paragraphs, I attempt to provide an abridged version of the author’s arguments.
The temporal structure of the workday. This topic is covered thoroughly in chapter two of the book: “Cooks time”. An organization is constrained by physical space, hierarchical organization, and temporality. Temporality is an inherent characteristic of an organization. Organizations must follow schedules, produce at specific time rates, etc., for them to succeed in the market environment. In professional cooking, temporality is more pronounced. Restaurants must establish a schedule of operation that operates when clients are likely to be present and closed when it’s not profitable to be open, procure foodstuff and beware of spoilage, work relentlessly through times of incredible demand, etc.
Restaurant hours vary according to the market niche or segment they aspire to. The workday schedule is determined by this, but both are never identical. “Cooks arrive several hours before the opening and generally work until after the restaurant closes. Unlike more tightly structured organizations, managers and head chefs are flexible”. Schedules respond to external forces such as the level of activity, number of reservations, and special events.
The main external demand workers are subject to are clients. Clients do not eat at regular space intervals, instead, customers act in a temporal structure of events e.g., breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc. Clients expected food when they feel it’s right. “Neither rushed nor delay”. Therefore, workers have approximately 20 minutes to deliver the food to the customer. There are tools to prolong or shorten this time depending on the needs of the kitchen, an example is by serving appetizers.
When cooked, food is subject to a time structure that determined when it is at its best. At its best is called among cooks “the peak of perfection”. Around this peak, there is a temporal window in which food is of acceptable quality. Past this window and is overdone. Before this window is undone.
Another pressure comes from synchronization. When preparing a dish, ideally, its different elements must be cooked at their peak of perfection when delivered. And depending on the food is their cook time. Therefore, cooks must synchronize every food to be at its best when delivered.
Quality production and aesthetic standards in the kitchen. This topic is covered thoroughly in chapter six. In addition to autonomy and authority, aesthetics is another need workers strive to fulfill as a means to feel please with their professional life, and consequently with themselves. Workers aspire to produce appealing products as judged by the senses and an experience of flow. However, this feat is rarely accomplished. Quality production and aesthetic standards are limited by three processes.
One of them is customer taste. Clients and cooks agree that restaurant food should be aesthetic, however, what both understand as aesthetic may differ to a great extent. Unfortunately for the cooks, the customer is always right, and they must suppress their competence and their standards of quality to meet the customers’ expectations. This leads chefs to underseasoned and occasionally overcook their dishes and be less experimental in their offerings, among other things.
Another one is time or organizational efficiency. Clients expect their food in a limited amount of time. Consequentially, the options of what a cook can prepare are limited to this time frame. This leads chefs to serve food that previously fell on the floor, set-aside decorative tasks, and reheat food, among other things.
Another one is the economics of the restaurant. Cook must operate under a budget established by management to make the restaurant profitable. Thus, cooks are limited by the quantity and quality of foods they use to prepare their dishes. This leads cooks to disregard garnish, use food that is slightly off, and abstain to use truffle, caviar, and other expensive foods, among others.
I believe the author accomplished his purpose. The interactions and cultural concern, that is, the description of how interaction emerges from structure, and in turn interaction becomes structured, is resolved. Fine reports the organizational and system constraints that affect the choices and behaviors of workers; clients' demands, organizational efficiency, resource base, division of power, etc.; and how through repetition and interaction this behavior becomes part of their culture. Its concern of doing justice to the reality of the organization is also resolved. Through his participant observation and in-depth interviewing, Fine is able to account accurately the true lived experiences of workers. As well as his concern about doing justice to the reality of the environment outside the organization. Thoroughly covered in chapter five: The Economic Cook.
The main issue with this book is its elderliness. Published in 1996, is open to doubt if the ethos of this sub-society remains the way is described in this book. Rendering questionable the worthiness of reading this book in the present day.
From this book, the two main lessons I learned regarding working life and organizational development, were aesthetic concerns and how organizational structures and the external environment influences our daily routines, and how these routines build culture.
Regarding the restaurant industry, I learned how difficult and toilsome it is to succeed. I dream of running my own business one day. Of the several businesses I was considering, a restaurant was one of them. However, I don’t know if that’s the case anymore. I’m not presupposing that starting a business in a different line is easy. But the probability of the business failing in the first year is substantially higher in the restaurant industry than in the average. This reality in addition to the low-profit margins makes me conclude that from a business point of view it’s not worth it. The only way establishing a restaurant makes sense is if the owner is thrilled by the idea of seeing his aesthetic vision into practice and making a personal statement.
This book has also made me appreciate the skills and pressures these workers experienced. I believe this changed my dining experience forever. I’m convinced Ill will be more patient, considerate, and a bigger payer of compliments wherever it's due.
This book is the product of research based on participant observation and in-depth interviewing in four restaurants located within the twin cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota, United States. The author spent a month in the kitchen of each restaurant, present at all times the restaurant was open, and interview all its full-time cooks, besides other workers. In his analysis, the author uses a negotiated order perspective, which is the approach of the interactionist understanding of organizations. As stated by the author, the purpose of this book is to present an “organizational sociology that is grounded in interactionist and cultural concerns but does justice to the reality of the organization and the equal, insistent reality of the environment outside the organization”.
The four restaurants involved in the author’s research were: (1) Le Pomme de Terre, considered one of the best, finest, and most creative haute cuisine restaurants in the twin cities; (2) The Owl’s Nest, a continental restaurant characterized by their elegance catering primarily to an upper-middle-class clientele; (3) Stan Steakhouse, catering primarily to middle-aged of lower-middle-class clients; (4) The Twin Cities Backlemore Hotel, a restaurant judge subpar to the hotel industry standards. Caters primarily to business travelers.
Two of the most consequential aspects of culture reported in this book are the temporal structure of the workday and the worker’s quality production and aesthetic standards. In the following paragraphs, I attempt to provide an abridged version of the author’s arguments.
The temporal structure of the workday. This topic is covered thoroughly in chapter two of the book: “Cooks time”. An organization is constrained by physical space, hierarchical organization, and temporality. Temporality is an inherent characteristic of an organization. Organizations must follow schedules, produce at specific time rates, etc., for them to succeed in the market environment. In professional cooking, temporality is more pronounced. Restaurants must establish a schedule of operation that operates when clients are likely to be present and closed when it’s not profitable to be open, procure foodstuff and beware of spoilage, work relentlessly through times of incredible demand, etc.
Restaurant hours vary according to the market niche or segment they aspire to. The workday schedule is determined by this, but both are never identical. “Cooks arrive several hours before the opening and generally work until after the restaurant closes. Unlike more tightly structured organizations, managers and head chefs are flexible”. Schedules respond to external forces such as the level of activity, number of reservations, and special events.
The main external demand workers are subject to are clients. Clients do not eat at regular space intervals, instead, customers act in a temporal structure of events e.g., breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc. Clients expected food when they feel it’s right. “Neither rushed nor delay”. Therefore, workers have approximately 20 minutes to deliver the food to the customer. There are tools to prolong or shorten this time depending on the needs of the kitchen, an example is by serving appetizers.
When cooked, food is subject to a time structure that determined when it is at its best. At its best is called among cooks “the peak of perfection”. Around this peak, there is a temporal window in which food is of acceptable quality. Past this window and is overdone. Before this window is undone.
Another pressure comes from synchronization. When preparing a dish, ideally, its different elements must be cooked at their peak of perfection when delivered. And depending on the food is their cook time. Therefore, cooks must synchronize every food to be at its best when delivered.
Quality production and aesthetic standards in the kitchen. This topic is covered thoroughly in chapter six. In addition to autonomy and authority, aesthetics is another need workers strive to fulfill as a means to feel please with their professional life, and consequently with themselves. Workers aspire to produce appealing products as judged by the senses and an experience of flow. However, this feat is rarely accomplished. Quality production and aesthetic standards are limited by three processes.
One of them is customer taste. Clients and cooks agree that restaurant food should be aesthetic, however, what both understand as aesthetic may differ to a great extent. Unfortunately for the cooks, the customer is always right, and they must suppress their competence and their standards of quality to meet the customers’ expectations. This leads chefs to underseasoned and occasionally overcook their dishes and be less experimental in their offerings, among other things.
Another one is time or organizational efficiency. Clients expect their food in a limited amount of time. Consequentially, the options of what a cook can prepare are limited to this time frame. This leads chefs to serve food that previously fell on the floor, set-aside decorative tasks, and reheat food, among other things.
Another one is the economics of the restaurant. Cook must operate under a budget established by management to make the restaurant profitable. Thus, cooks are limited by the quantity and quality of foods they use to prepare their dishes. This leads cooks to disregard garnish, use food that is slightly off, and abstain to use truffle, caviar, and other expensive foods, among others.
I believe the author accomplished his purpose. The interactions and cultural concern, that is, the description of how interaction emerges from structure, and in turn interaction becomes structured, is resolved. Fine reports the organizational and system constraints that affect the choices and behaviors of workers; clients' demands, organizational efficiency, resource base, division of power, etc.; and how through repetition and interaction this behavior becomes part of their culture. Its concern of doing justice to the reality of the organization is also resolved. Through his participant observation and in-depth interviewing, Fine is able to account accurately the true lived experiences of workers. As well as his concern about doing justice to the reality of the environment outside the organization. Thoroughly covered in chapter five: The Economic Cook.
The main issue with this book is its elderliness. Published in 1996, is open to doubt if the ethos of this sub-society remains the way is described in this book. Rendering questionable the worthiness of reading this book in the present day.
From this book, the two main lessons I learned regarding working life and organizational development, were aesthetic concerns and how organizational structures and the external environment influences our daily routines, and how these routines build culture.
Regarding the restaurant industry, I learned how difficult and toilsome it is to succeed. I dream of running my own business one day. Of the several businesses I was considering, a restaurant was one of them. However, I don’t know if that’s the case anymore. I’m not presupposing that starting a business in a different line is easy. But the probability of the business failing in the first year is substantially higher in the restaurant industry than in the average. This reality in addition to the low-profit margins makes me conclude that from a business point of view it’s not worth it. The only way establishing a restaurant makes sense is if the owner is thrilled by the idea of seeing his aesthetic vision into practice and making a personal statement.
This book has also made me appreciate the skills and pressures these workers experienced. I believe this changed my dining experience forever. I’m convinced Ill will be more patient, considerate, and a bigger payer of compliments wherever it's due.
October 14, 2011
I'm a huge admirer of Gary Fine's work, and think that I would have rated this much higher had it not felt as dated as it did. Granted, this didn't make his sociological explanations any less valid, nor his ability to describe aptly and evocatively the atmospheres and locales in which his work is situated. In other words, from an academic standpoint, this book deserves a higher rating. The foodie in me, however, feels compelled to point out to potential readers that this behind the scenes account (as Fine acknowledges in his preface) is situated in a time and place that is now behind us (but not quite far enough behind us to feel revelatory). In short, any one looking to learn how to write comprehensive and accessible ethnography would be well-served by reading this book (Fine's appendix is particularly good on this). Those who are looking to learn more about food and restaurants would likely be more satisfied by situated accounts like the one offered by Bill Buford's Heat.
June 7, 2012
This is an excellent and important ethnography about an undervalued and critically important segment of the American social and economic milieu - cooks - the people who make delicious food. As far as the ethnographic work goes, Fine's work is well-detailed, analytic, and insightful. I have no qualms about his methodology and observations. My only issue is that his selection of restaurants in the Twin City area was limited. Keeping in mind that this occurred in the 1980s, the upscale and elite restaurant landscape in the Twin Cities might not have been extant. This is during the era that it became fashionable and critically important for yuppies to converse and be knowledgeable about haute cuisine. I hold that it is even more important today, even if that is pseudo-knowledgeable. Whether it is the Dining Section of the NYTimes; Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives; or general restaurant knowledge, the food discourse throughout the country is robust. There are three important points that Gary Fine makes that I would like to discuss.
The first point is that the tension in restaurants is immense. The interpersonal tension and intergroup friction between servers, cooks, chefs, managers, and owners must be too intense to handle on certain days. I can only imagine the grind and resentment built up over years of squabbling and bickering. The most important source of friction is between cooks and servers. The dynamic is clear: servers want food prepared quickly so that their customers leave large tips (which cooks do not see) and cooks want to impose their artistic sensibilities and create delicious food without time constraints. Fine rightfully devotes a large amount of space to this topic because it is crucial to the functioning of the restaurant. Both the cooks and the waiters provide perspicacity into this dynamic through the interviews. Fine's field notes complete the story.
The second point is that Fine relies heavily on Orwell's brilliant expose of food services in Paris during the inter-war period. In Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell cuttingly exposes the disaster that is the food services industry in the measly conditions, dirty food, underpaid cooks, and overall awful situation. In true Orwellian fashion, Orwell experiences the pains of actually being a cook. Since Fine is conducting an ethnography, he does not experience cooking like the eminent George did, but he still conveys the conditions and life of cooks in various settings. Fine makes these cooks sympathetic characters. That is significant because in conflicts between different groups or in the description of squalid and unfair conditions, the reader is on the side of the cooks. I know I was. Whether this was his intention or just my reading, I am unsure.
The third point is that Gary Fine necessarily dedicates a chapter towards the end discussing the lack of a food vocabulary. This is an essential point, as the food lexicon is very limited. Fine traces this to a lack of descriptive words in the Indo-European languages. However, he did not provide enough information to support that hypothesis, so I am unsure of how true that actually is. The point should resonate, though, whenever each of us has issues trying to describe a meal to someone or explaining what a dish tastes like. This is painfully clear on such shows, such as Chopped, where esteemed food critics and judges cannot muster more than the usual to describe creative dishes. The same holds for usual dishes on other Food Network shows. Our vocabulary is unfortunately limited and that hinders our ability to discuss food intelligently.
The first point is that the tension in restaurants is immense. The interpersonal tension and intergroup friction between servers, cooks, chefs, managers, and owners must be too intense to handle on certain days. I can only imagine the grind and resentment built up over years of squabbling and bickering. The most important source of friction is between cooks and servers. The dynamic is clear: servers want food prepared quickly so that their customers leave large tips (which cooks do not see) and cooks want to impose their artistic sensibilities and create delicious food without time constraints. Fine rightfully devotes a large amount of space to this topic because it is crucial to the functioning of the restaurant. Both the cooks and the waiters provide perspicacity into this dynamic through the interviews. Fine's field notes complete the story.
The second point is that Fine relies heavily on Orwell's brilliant expose of food services in Paris during the inter-war period. In Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell cuttingly exposes the disaster that is the food services industry in the measly conditions, dirty food, underpaid cooks, and overall awful situation. In true Orwellian fashion, Orwell experiences the pains of actually being a cook. Since Fine is conducting an ethnography, he does not experience cooking like the eminent George did, but he still conveys the conditions and life of cooks in various settings. Fine makes these cooks sympathetic characters. That is significant because in conflicts between different groups or in the description of squalid and unfair conditions, the reader is on the side of the cooks. I know I was. Whether this was his intention or just my reading, I am unsure.
The third point is that Gary Fine necessarily dedicates a chapter towards the end discussing the lack of a food vocabulary. This is an essential point, as the food lexicon is very limited. Fine traces this to a lack of descriptive words in the Indo-European languages. However, he did not provide enough information to support that hypothesis, so I am unsure of how true that actually is. The point should resonate, though, whenever each of us has issues trying to describe a meal to someone or explaining what a dish tastes like. This is painfully clear on such shows, such as Chopped, where esteemed food critics and judges cannot muster more than the usual to describe creative dishes. The same holds for usual dishes on other Food Network shows. Our vocabulary is unfortunately limited and that hinders our ability to discuss food intelligently.
May 27, 2013
An academic work first published in 1996, examining the work culture of four Minneapolis-St Paul restaurants. Extensive use of quotes and observations to describe community, rank, and behavior with some relation to restaurant success, with notes and bibliography. Good fundamental text on the structure and mechanics of kitchen operations and feeding the masses.
In the new introduction to the 2009 edition, Fine compares his work to those by Bourdain and others, putting it into perspective with the new class of celebrity chef. The introduction fails in some respects, as Fine's detailed, laborious text is anything but entertaining and centers on professional chefs who are neither notorious nor celebrity. What does succeed is Fine's recognition that a successful restaurant's kitchen must be a well oiled machine irrespective of celebrity.
Kitchens: The Culture of Restaurant Work is published by the University of California Press which has also published other works in it's Food and Culture, History of Food and Cooking series. Lots to look forward to from this publisher!!
--Ashland Mystery
In the new introduction to the 2009 edition, Fine compares his work to those by Bourdain and others, putting it into perspective with the new class of celebrity chef. The introduction fails in some respects, as Fine's detailed, laborious text is anything but entertaining and centers on professional chefs who are neither notorious nor celebrity. What does succeed is Fine's recognition that a successful restaurant's kitchen must be a well oiled machine irrespective of celebrity.
Kitchens: The Culture of Restaurant Work is published by the University of California Press which has also published other works in it's Food and Culture, History of Food and Cooking series. Lots to look forward to from this publisher!!
--Ashland Mystery
Read
January 24, 2013Sociological study from the 80's on a handful of restaurants in the Twin Cities area: a hotel restaurant, a family steakhouse, an established upscale place, and a haute cuisine place. Chapters focus mainly on the experiences of chefs and cooks, especially looking at demands of time, restricted and shared spaces, economic contingencies, aesthetics, and decision-making processes. My favorite parts are the excerpted interviews; hearing the voices of the kitchen staff is SO familiar. The author only skirts the staff encounters with management, front-of-house servers, and outside suppliers (all of which I think would make for fascinating studies), but his style and rigor encourages me to look into his other works.
December 13, 2012
Another fabulous ethnography by Gary Fine. The book is of interest to sociologists and anthropologists who study all aspects of work, occupations and organisations as well as for students in the sociology of aesthetics. Fine covers the practices cooks and staff produce in kitchens, how they deal with contingencies emerging in restaurants and brought into the kitchen by waiters, any many other areas of kitchen work. Highly recommended.
March 4, 2015
A very interesting perspective on the culture of professional kitchens. Fine, a sociologist, examines the daily life of four restaurants in the Minneapolis- St.Paul area and describes in great detail the language and socioeconomic culture that allow kitchens to function as organizations.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews