Critiques en avant-première

No Experience Necessary is Chef Norman Van Aken’s delicious joyride of a memoir. The book spans twenty-plus years and nearly as many jobs—jobs that took him from the small-town Midwest to the big island of Hawaii and back again—before finally landing him on the breezy, but not-always-easy shores of Key West, Florida. Long considered a culinary renegade and pioneering restaurateur, Van Aken is an American original who chopped and charred, sweated and seared his way to cooking stardom with no formal training, but with extra helpings of energy, creativity, and faith. Undaunted by hurricanes, economic downturns, and mercurial moneymen, he recounts both struggles and triumphs during the decades when a restaurant could open and close faster than you can type “tropical depression.” Whether a boutique bistro, casual café, or mainstay eatery, Van Aken put his heart, natural talent, and ever-expanding experience into every venture—and helped transform the American culinary landscape along the way. In the irreverent tradition of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, and populated by a delightful rogues’ gallery of colorful characters—including movie stars, rock n’ roll musicians, and culinary giants Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, and Charlie Trotter—No Experience Necessary offers a uniquely personal, under-the-tablecloth view of the high stakes world of American cuisine told with wit and great affection by a natural storyteller. Norman Van Aken is known as “the founding father of New World Cuisine,” a celebration of Latin, Caribbean, Asian, African, and American flavors. He is also known internationally for introducing the concept of “Fusion” to the culinary world. The only Floridian inducted into the prestigious James Beard list of “Who’s Who in American Food and Beverage,” his restaurant, “Norman’s,” was nominated as a finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s “Best Restaurant in America.” He has also been a James Beard Foundation semi-finalist for “Best Chef in America.” Van Aken has published five cookbooks: Feast of Sunlight, The Exotic Fruit Book, Norman’s New World Cuisine, New World Kitchen, and My Key West Kitchen (with Justin Van Aken). He lives in Miami, Florida