新しい回顧録「タルト」に影響を与えた5冊の本

Slutty Cheff’s new memoir opens with a quote by Oscar Wilde. “Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.” Lifted from the author’s 1895 play The Importance of Being Earnest, the quote exemplifies the hedonism and knowing indulgence at the heart of Tart. After quitting her 9-5 corporate marketing job, Slutty – an anonymous writer in her mid-twenties – enters the adrenalised world of London’s kitchens, working as a chef during maddeningly busy services. It is here that she falls in and out of love with food, cooking, and the male chefs that surround her, combining the sensuality and erotics of food and sex in this raw, propulsive memoir. 

Slutty first became a writer on Instagram, crafting salacious, satirical long-form captions about food and sex that have now earned her 45,000 followers, and a book deal (Tart has already been optioned for TV with Working Title, the producers behind Notting Hill and Bridget Jones’s Diary). Touted as a mix between Anthony Bourdain – the late celebrity chef behind the explosive, culture-shifting memoir Kitchen Confidential – and Lena Dunham – the visionary writer/director/actor behind television shows like Girls and Too Much – Slutty balances humour and frankness and in her highly addictive musings on food, sex, romance, drug-fuelled benders, and dark bouts of anxiety and depression. 

Here, to celebrate the release of Tart, Slutty Cheff talks about five of her formative literary inspirations, from Anthony Bourdain to AA Gill.

1. Women by Charles Bukowski 

“Women is about Henry Chinaski, a low-life writer, alcoholic and sex pest, living in Hollywood and regularly getting laid. I love his take on “writing” as a career; he finds his work arduous and depressing, and is always in search of glamour and status, which he never finds. I can relate. Dark humour is my favourite, and there is so much of it in Women. The book is predominantly about his sexual encounters, which he goes into in incredibly vulgar detail. His thoughts, feelings and orgasms are described with such matter-of-fact honesty and viscerality that I almost feel like I shouldn’t be allowed to read it. I can look past the misogyny and mistreatment of women in this book because the protagonist utterly loathes himself and is completely aware of just how incapable he is as a lover, a friend, and a man. Two similar books that I love are Henry Miller’s Sexus and Martin Amis’ Money.“

2. Pour Me: A Life by AA Gill 

“I am not really into memoirs – I mainly like fiction – but this book is one of my favourite books. Pour Me chronicles the author’s struggles with alcoholism, grief, employment, love and everything in between. This is another slightly dark book, but it features food in a unique and human way. When Gill hits rock bottom there is a story about him cooking a roast chicken, and his sense of boyish hopefulness suddenly appears. He speaks about depression so rawly, with such searching, earnest emotion and self-awareness, that it made me cry a lot. I love crying at books. Pour Me was 100% one of the biggest influences on my own memoir, Tart.“

3. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain 

“In the lead-up to the publication of my book, a few journalists have said it reminds them of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. Then they ask me if I find that comparison offensive, because he is a man. I don’t at all. Bourdain writes about professional kitchens in a fucking excellent way. He writes with emotion, honesty, humour and bares it all, which I am obviously a fan of. I suppose this is a theme for me: depressed men. I think I find it reassuring when men share their emotions. Honesty is all I want to read, and Bourdain is honest. The energy and personality in his writing is a massive inspiration to me, and pretty hot.“

4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 

“Despite my weird fascination and enthusiasm for grotesque male writers and their disgusting sex lives, I am a deep, deep romantic at heart. There is nothing I like thinking about more than love. For the most part, I am deeply nihilistic, but the fact that love exists stops me from being in a permanent state of despair that life is pointless. 18th-century romantic stories written by women are my favourite. Pride and Prejudice enthrals me – the women depicted in the book live such different lives to the one I do, but they are still fierce, loud-mouthed and bolshy. And they still seek the same thing I do: real love. The storytelling around these small and seemingly insignificant moments – where a man might look at you in a certain way, for example – is brilliant. There is tension and suspense at all times.“

5. I’m a Fan by Sheena Patel 

“I’m A Fan is a funny and intoxicating book about a woman who becomes obsessed with observing the life of a beautiful blonde woman who is sleeping with the same deceitful, coercive man she is sleeping with. The nameless main character stalks this blonde relentlessly, picking apart every aspect of her life, her family money, her faux-fashion pursuits and her townhouse lifestyle. The protagonist’s use of social media as a lens into this other woman’s life is done in an original and unrelenting way. There is self-loathing, but there is also shamelessness and pride. I love the idea that a woman can be self-aware of their unhealthy obsessions, but not let that stop her from acting like a weirdo. I like reading about obsessive women because I am one myself.“

Tart by Slutty Cheff is published by Bloomsbury and is out now. 

Slutty Cheff’s new memoir opens with a quote by Oscar Wilde. “Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.” Lifted from the author’s 1895 play The Importance of Being Earnest, the quote exemplifies the hedonism and knowing indulgence at the heart of Tart. After quitting her 9-5 corporate marketing job, Slutty – an anonymous writer in her mid-twenties – enters the adrenalised world of London’s kitchens, working as a chef during maddeningly busy services. It is here that she falls in and out of love with food, cooking, and the male chefs that surround her, combining the sensuality and erotics of food and sex in this raw, propulsive memoir. 

Slutty first became a writer on Instagram, crafting salacious, satirical long-form captions about food and sex that have now earned her 45,000 followers, and a book deal (Tart has already been optioned for TV with Working Title, the producers behind Notting Hill and Bridget Jones’s Diary). Touted as a mix between Anthony Bourdain – the late celebrity chef behind the explosive, culture-shifting memoir Kitchen Confidential – and Lena Dunham – the visionary writer/director/actor behind television shows like Girls and Too Much – Slutty balances humour and frankness and in her highly addictive musings on food, sex, romance, drug-fuelled benders, and dark bouts of anxiety and depression. 

Here, to celebrate the release of Tart, Slutty Cheff talks about five of her formative literary inspirations, from Anthony Bourdain to AA Gill.

1. Women by Charles Bukowski 

“Women is about Henry Chinaski, a low-life writer, alcoholic and sex pest, living in Hollywood and regularly getting laid. I love his take on “writing” as a career; he finds his work arduous and depressing, and is always in search of glamour and status, which he never finds. I can relate. Dark humour is my favourite, and there is so much of it in Women. The book is predominantly about his sexual encounters, which he goes into in incredibly vulgar detail. His thoughts, feelings and orgasms are described with such matter-of-fact honesty and viscerality that I almost feel like I shouldn’t be allowed to read it. I can look past the misogyny and mistreatment of women in this book because the protagonist utterly loathes himself and is completely aware of just how incapable he is as a lover, a friend, and a man. Two similar books that I love are Henry Miller’s Sexus and Martin Amis’ Money.“

2. Pour Me: A Life by AA Gill 

“I am not really into memoirs – I mainly like fiction – but this book is one of my favourite books. Pour Me chronicles the author’s struggles with alcoholism, grief, employment, love and everything in between. This is another slightly dark book, but it features food in a unique and human way. When Gill hits rock bottom there is a story about him cooking a roast chicken, and his sense of boyish hopefulness suddenly appears. He speaks about depression so rawly, with such searching, earnest emotion and self-awareness, that it made me cry a lot. I love crying at books. Pour Me was 100% one of the biggest influences on my own memoir, Tart.“

3. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain 

“In the lead-up to the publication of my book, a few journalists have said it reminds them of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. Then they ask me if I find that comparison offensive, because he is a man. I don’t at all. Bourdain writes about professional kitchens in a fucking excellent way. He writes with emotion, honesty, humour and bares it all, which I am obviously a fan of. I suppose this is a theme for me: depressed men. I think I find it reassuring when men share their emotions. Honesty is all I want to read, and Bourdain is honest. The energy and personality in his writing is a massive inspiration to me, and pretty hot.“

4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 

“Despite my weird fascination and enthusiasm for grotesque male writers and their disgusting sex lives, I am a deep, deep romantic at heart. There is nothing I like thinking about more than love. For the most part, I am deeply nihilistic, but the fact that love exists stops me from being in a permanent state of despair that life is pointless. 18th-century romantic stories written by women are my favourite. Pride and Prejudice enthrals me – the women depicted in the book live such different lives to the one I do, but they are still fierce, loud-mouthed and bolshy. And they still seek the same thing I do: real love. The storytelling around these small and seemingly insignificant moments – where a man might look at you in a certain way, for example – is brilliant. There is tension and suspense at all times.“

5. I’m a Fan by Sheena Patel 

“I’m A Fan is a funny and intoxicating book about a woman who becomes obsessed with observing the life of a beautiful blonde woman who is sleeping with the same deceitful, coercive man she is sleeping with. The nameless main character stalks this blonde relentlessly, picking apart every aspect of her life, her family money, her faux-fashion pursuits and her townhouse lifestyle. The protagonist’s use of social media as a lens into this other woman’s life is done in an original and unrelenting way. There is self-loathing, but there is also shamelessness and pride. I love the idea that a woman can be self-aware of their unhealthy obsessions, but not let that stop her from acting like a weirdo. I like reading about obsessive women because I am one myself.“

Tart by Slutty Cheff is published by Bloomsbury and is out now.