{"id":58652,"date":"2025-10-02T09:37:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T13:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=58652"},"modified":"2025-10-02T09:59:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T13:59:25","slug":"woolever-memoir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/woolever-memoir\/","title":{"rendered":"Acclaimed Memoirist Is Ready to Move Beyond Batali and Bourdain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Care and Feeding<\/em>, Laurie Woolever \u201996 recalls working for the two celebrity chefs\u2014and, most poignantly, shares her own journey<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Beth Saulnier<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laurie Woolever \u201996 is well aware that some readers have been drawn to her recent memoir in the hope of gleaning insights into two high-profile men: Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain. She was, after all, the personal assistant to both celebrity chefs, whose highs and lows made global headlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former lost his career to a scandal over sexual harassment and workplace abuse, while the latter died by suicide after struggling with mental health issues and personal demons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>
\n

But as many critics have observed\u2014and numerous readers have discovered\u2014Woolever\u2019s book is no mere celebrity-adjacent tell-all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly<\/em> calls it a \u201cprofane, exhilarating autobiography,\u201d noting, \u201cWoolever paints a raw portrait of the culinary world\u2019s hypermasculine work culture, but she steers clear of playing the victim \u2026 These rowdy reflections enlighten and entertain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Titled Care and Feeding<\/em><\/a>, the New York Times<\/em> bestseller is a heartfelt, brutally honest tale of the author\u2019s<\/a> journey from a modest upbringing in Upstate New York, through Cornell and culinary school, and into the NYC foodie world at the height of the celebrity chef era.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI graduated from college in 1996 and moved to New York with three things: a vague ambition to be a published writer, a yawning desire for validation, and a love of feeding others,\u201d Woolever writes in the intro. \u201cMy parents had taught me to keep my head down and do my work, accept what\u2019s offered, show up early, be polite, become indispensable. Beyond all that, I didn\u2019t have much of a plan for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Woolever\u2019s readers soon learn, that life would be no less interesting for lack of a grand scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I graduated from college in 1996 and moved to New York with three things: a vague ambition to be a published writer, a yawning desire for validation, and a love of feeding others.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

She becomes the private chef to an ultrawealthy couple, catering to their sometimes bizarre dietary whims; works for Batali, who can be alternately generous and toxic; and eventually finds a more amenable\u2014if still hugely stressful and demanding\u2014job as the assistant to Bourdain, the globe-trotting superstar with an ardent following.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her work with both chefs opens doors: she collaborates on their cookbooks and other projects, is connected to editors at major publications, and travels the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Laurie
Woolever (glimpsed at rear) in the kitchen at Babbo with Batali (far right).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Along the way\u2014and here is where much of that brutal honesty comes in\u2014she not only drinks way too much and does copious amounts of drugs, but repeatedly cheats on her husband, leading to the end of her marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also becomes part of the #MeToo movement, sought out as a witness to some of Batali\u2019s misdeeds\u2014and finds herself questioning the extent to which she may have turned a blind eye rather than put her livelihood at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Laurie
CNN<\/figcaption>
At Queens’ Aqueduct Racetrack with Bourdain during shooting of his show “Parts Unknown.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe is a funny, acerbic, and empathetic writer,\u201d says a New York Times<\/em> review. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the most refreshing aspects of Care and Feeding<\/em> is that she doesn\u2019t belabor the point that she was a hot mess. She simply inventories the handles of whiskey, rafts of gin and tonics, bottles of wine, and cases of beer. She doesn\u2019t say she\u2019s a pothead; she\u2019s just high from the moment she wakes up. And she doesn\u2019t say she\u2019s addicted to sex but is always having it, often sordidly, generally drunkenly, frequently with strangers, sometimes with colleagues. There\u2019s little judgment, just consequences, which pile up like a car crash as the pages turn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

She is a funny, acerbic, and empathetic writer. One of the most refreshing aspects of Care and Feeding<\/em> is that she doesn\u2019t belabor the point that she was a hot mess.<\/p>\nThe New York Times<\/strong><\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Asked if it was tough to put those challenges and failings on the page, Woolever\u2014maybe surprisingly\u2014says no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose are the kinds of things I\u2019ve always gravitated toward as a reader. I want to know the embarrassing stories, the mistakes, the disasters\u2014because I think that the more we talk about them, the more they\u2019re normalized, and the more we realize that everyone makes mistakes, has embarrassing moments, or does the wrong thing,\u201d she says, chatting with Cornellians<\/em> in summer 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Laurie
bobby fisher<\/figcaption>
Eating a po’ boy during production of Appetites<\/em>, the 2016 cookbook she and Bourdain co-authored.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n

\u201cSo there\u2019s something humanizing about these stories\u2014and I\u2019m telling them from the perspective of someone who was fortunate enough to pull out of the nosedive and figure out a better way to live.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A natural resources major in CALS, Woolever held several part-time jobs during her undergrad years\u2014including at Student Agencies and the long-departed Collegetown Video\u2014and stayed in Ithaca over the summers to work on local organic farms.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

She had originally majored in communication, and has long been interested in both cooking and writing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of her memoir\u2019s finely wrought and evocative detail is drawn from her journals and diaries, as well other documentation like emails, photo albums, and restaurant menus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of her memoir\u2019s finely wrought and evocative detail is drawn from her journals and diaries, as well other documentation like emails, photo albums, and restaurant menus.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have a really good memory, and sometimes insignificant details do stick with me,\u201d she explains, \u201cso there was a little bit of guesswork and fictionalizing\u2014but a lot of it is supported by this record that I\u2019ve kept for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

And throughout, of course, there is food\u2014from the nourishing meals she cooks her toddler to the hard-drinking, late-night feasts with Bourdain and crew to the culinary indulgences that punctuate some of her extramarital relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had gin and tonics and 18 oysters and a bottle of Gr\u00fcner Veltliner that smelled like grapefruit and parsley,\u201d she writes of one rendezvous. \u201cI opened and slowly devoured the floury little crackers from the plastic package while we talked about our home lives and our work, the places we\u2019d been and the places we wanted to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Laurie
During her undergrad days.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now living in Queens and the single mom of a teenage son, Woolever is focused on her writing career\u2014with bylines in major media like the New York Times<\/em>, Vogue<\/em>, GQ<\/em>, Food & Wine<\/em>, and Saveur<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I have a really good memory, and sometimes insignificant details do stick with me, so there was a little bit of guesswork and fictionalizing\u2014but a lot of it is supported by this record that I\u2019ve kept for many years.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, Harper Collins published her book Bourdain<\/em><\/a>: The Definitive Oral Biography<\/em>, in which the late chef is remembered by friends, family, and famous colleagues like Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s and Nigella Lawson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s currently at work on other potential book projects, and hopes that her memoir will be adapted as a streaming series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Laurie
In her chef’s whites at culinary school.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been lucky to be aligned professionally with some very big names that get people to take a second look. I\u2019m grateful for that\u2014but I\u2019m more than just the former assistant to Batali and Bourdain,\u201d Woolever says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo I\u2019d like for my next book not to involve either one of them, because they cast a long shadow. From a marketing perspective, I\u2019m not going to pretend it\u2019s not valuable. But from a creative standpoint, I\u2019m hoping that a publisher will take a chance on me telling my own stories. I think I\u2019ve established my skill as a writer\u2014and I still have a lot of good stories to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Top: Woolever portrait by David Scott Holloway<\/em>. All other images provided, unless otherwise indicated.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published October 2, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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