Anthony Bourdain's sardonic humor and sense of what is important to him comes through in the text and pictures of Appetites A Cookbook. The accompanying photos for recipes are not stock images of plated perfection, but rough, post-modern glam shots and sometimes are just remnants of the food left on a plate. A chapter on dessert that is one page, and simply says "F*ck Dessert", then explains how he isn't the person to provide recipes about something he isn't good at and he doesn't like. Every recipe has an anecdote about where it comes from or what it means to him, often hilarious and written with a sense of purpose and singularity that expects a reader to have a baseline of both skill and restaurant work experience. It is not a beginner's cook book, though it does touch on how to properly make stock and roast a chicken (which are beginner's skill sets). The recipes are more suggestions than step by step instructions. This is not to denigrate their efficacy, but rather to highlight that they focus more on being able to connect the dots to make a dish your own, than to follow a step by step guide.
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