Tart
Misadventures of an Anonymous Chef
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3.5 • 33 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
An Instant Sunday Times (London) Bestseller
A New York Times Best Nonfiction Book of Summer 2025
A Vogue Best Book of 2025 So Far
A Service95 Must-Read Book of 2025
A hilarious, hot, and steamy account of coming of age in and out of the kitchen, from the anonymous chef and columnist, Slutty Cheff.
“It’s the two best things in the world: food and sex.”
When Slutty Cheff finds herself bored and fed-up with her 9–5 job in corporate marketing, she turns to the only thing that she really likes to do: cooking. So she quits her job, swaps emails for emulsions, and sets off to pursue her dreams of becoming a chef.
The world of London’s fine dining restaurants is so much more than she imagined: it’s more challenging, and more exciting too. There are the exhausting lows of sixty-hour work weeks in windowless kitchens, and the shock of stepping into the changing room as the only woman. There are the thrilling highs of a busy night, when service is running smoothly; electrifying run-ins with hot bartenders and even hotter chefs; and, always, the exhilaration of cycling hands-free through a city that is still sleeping, on a morning where anything can happen.
This is a story about searching for your purpose, and experiencing and embracing life to the fullest along the way. The pleasure and the chaos too…
An exquisite mix of raw Anthony Bourdain-style honesty with the sharp wit of Lena Dunham’s Girls, Tart is THE book for those who like to eat and f**k.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Anonymous food blogger and British Vogue columnist Cheff debuts with a charming behind-the-scenes glimpse at the culinary world. After burning out at her nine-to-five, Cheff took a chance by applying to culinary school, and became hooked on restaurant work after a single shift. As in her columns, Cheff turns a wry eye toward the hazards of life in the kitchen, be they gender-based—including unwanted advances from male coworkers—or purely occupational: after being burned by hot oil and sliced by knives, Cheff quips, "My minor injuries may be ever-growing, but my arse, on the other hand, is looking excellent; twenty thousand steps a day will do that to you." She also serves up spicy musings on her love life, recalling trysts both good and bad, including one memorable lover who got another woman pregnant while dating Cheff. Lively prose ("I don't want my oyster to be the size of a little snot rocket; I want it to be a fleshy bulbous pearl swimming in an iridescent sea of salty juice") and a devilish sense of humor make this a compulsively readable treat. It's a refreshing forkful of food and sex. Agents: Abigail Koons and Kathryn Toolan, Park, Fine & Brower.
