“Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly” explores the author’s time in the restaurant business, including encounters with Bobby Flay and David Chang

Hannah Selinger reveals the hard facts about life in the catering industry.

The lifestyle author’s upcoming memoir, Cellar Rat: My life in the underworld of the restaurantwill be published next year by Little, Brown and Company — and Selinger tells PEOPLE it’s a story she had to share.

“When I started this book, I had already written an essay about my life in the restaurant industry, and I realized there was a lot more to explore—that I wasn’t quite done exploring the toxicity and trauma of the restaurant scene and what happened to me in restaurants in particular,” says Selinger.

“Cellar rat is my dig, and it comes at a time when so many of us are reevaluating these kinds of work spaces,” she adds.

Selinger, author of the viral essays “Life Was Not a Peach” and “In My Childhood Kitchen, I Learned Both Fear and Love,” knows the industry well. She previously worked as a waitress and sommelier in some of New York City’s finest restaurants and has worked with well-known celebrity chefs throughout her career, including David Chang, Bobby Flay and others.

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In Cellar ratIn “The 40 Fingers,” Selinger examines the trajectory of her career, from working at her hometown pub to serving celebrities at a luxurious party in the Hamptons, as the book says.

The author also doesn’t shy away from revealing the dark side of the job – including the hardships she had to endure, as detailed in Life Was No Bed of Roses, the “lure and danger of power” and what it meant for her to give up a career she once loved.

“I hope my work creates space for new conversations and inspires a broader view of what it means to be an employee and employer in an industry as tough and unforgiving as the restaurant industry,” Selinger continues.

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The author was nominated for a James Beard Award and has written for media such as The New York Times, The Washington Post And Travel + Leisureamong other things. Cellar rat is her first memoir.

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