Brigid Washington | Salt, Sweat & Steam

Inside the nation's most elite cooking school and what it's really like to have a life in the food world

ABOUT THE EVENT

Tickets include a copy of Salt, Sweat & Steam: The Fiery Education of an Accidental Chef, guaranteed entry to the event, and a seat in the reserved section. Brigid will sign books after the program.

All live author events are subject to change. More information about our events can be found at quailridgebooks.com/eventsfaq.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Inside the nation's most elite cooking school and what it's really like to have a life in the food world

Hours in chef’s whites in a classroom that doubles as the best-stocked kitchen you’ll ever see: 50-quart KitchenAid mixers, balloon whisks in every diameter, CIA-issued knives, bains marie. Also: grueling hours and a giant tuition tab so that—if you’re lucky enough—you can land an entry-level job that features grueling hours, low wages, and a giant uniform-and-equipment tab.

Washington, a Trinidadian who came to the U.S. for college, decided to apply to the Culinary Institute of America after a break-up. As editor of CIA’s La Papillote: The Voice of the Student Chef, she got to see how the sausage was made (literally). In one day, she would go from studying the five mother sauces in Skills 1 to interviewing Thomas Keller for a front-page feature. Sucked into the brigade system, she believed the gospel that pressure was a privilege. As one of the few students of color, she stayed sane by reminding herself that where she came from had different—and better—values.

Salt, Sweat & Steam takes readers behind the scenes of the nation’s most elite culinary school, through perfectionistic finals and brutal unpaid internships, into days that go from continuously whisking Sauce Bernaise for 300 to being so dead-tired that dinner is a bag of Cheez-Its from the vending machine. It’s The Devil Wears Prada for the “yes, chef” era.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BRIGID WASHINGTON is a food writer whose work delves into the rich complexities of Caribbean food and culture as it intersects with life in the United States. She is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and the author of two cookbooks. Her writing has appeared in Bon Appetit, Epicurious, Food & Wine, Real Simple, The New York Times, and many others. She is Vice Chair of of the journalism committee for the James Beard Foundation and on the board of Now Serving, a food insecurity non-profit. She lives in Raleigh.