Scars of a Chef

Tyndale House Publishers sent me a copy of Scars of a Chef:  The searing story of a top chef marked forever by the grit and grace of life in the kitchen by Rick Tramanto with Lisa Jackson for the purpose of review.  I was compensated in no other way and was expected only to give my honest review of the book.

I am a FoodNetwork and cooking show junkie!  My daughter and I love to watch Cake Boss and all those shows where cooking challenges are happening.  So, when Tyndale had the opportunity to review Rick Tramonto's memoirs in Scars of a Chef, was excited to have the chance to read his book. 

Where can a guy with 24 different tattoos running up and down both sides of his body, no high school diploma, a background of drug abuse and abandonment by his father, a mother with extreme emotional problems, and a job at Wendy's possibly go in the culinary world?  In Scars of a Chef Rick Tramonto tells the amazing journey God guided him through from flipping hamburgers in Wendy's to cooking with some of the top chefs around Europe and opening his own four star restaurant.

Mr. Tramonto's story is fast paced.  In so many autobiographies and memoirs, you sometimes get into pages and pages of unnecessary details; not here!  Tramonto keeps the story moving and you get a true sense of what his life really must have been like.  It was very hard to put this book down!  I devoured it in two days simply because I had to know what happens next! 

Tramonto doesn't soft soap his struggles with anger and drug abuse as ways he employed to cope with the stress and emotional troubles he experienced in his attempt to work his way into the heart of the culinary world.  I appreciated his transparency in the book.  You get to peak into a life transformed by the grace of God and see someone living it out for real.  You get to see what can become of someone, who by human standards deserved to go nowhere and be a nobody, but surrendered to the grace of God in his life has opened up his own restaurants and authored numerous cookbooks. 

What you get in Scars of a Chef is not just theology, but doxology; living day by day dependent on the amazing grace of God.

And an added plus is the amazing recipes of Chef Tramonto included at the end of each chapter.  These are signature recipes he created and some he adapted from his Italian heritage.  This book is going right beside some of my favorite cookbooks in my kitchen!

Scars of a Chef can be purchased at Amazon.com by following the link provided bellow.














Happy Reading and Cooking,
Jennifer