I Want to Hate Anthony Bourdain
2 Dec
He’s cruel, he’s proud and he’s infuriatingly likable. Here’s what Anthony Bourdain wrote on page 70 in his book, “Kitchen Confidential.”
“Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, and an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food.
The body, these waterheads imagine, is a temple that should not be polluted by animal protein. It’s healthier, they insist, though every vegetarian waiter I’ve worked with is brought down by any rumor of a cold. Oh, I’ll accommodate them, I’ll rummage around for something to feed them, for a ‘vegetarian plate’, if called on to do so. Fourteen dollars for a few slices of grilled eggplant and zucchini suits my food cost fine.”
So, does he curl your fists up into little balls or do you want to laugh and buy him a beer? I’m still trying to decide.
Overall, I like Bourdain, though sometimes I think he tries to hard to be the food rebel. It’s kind of said that food journalists only go to him to get an acerbic quote. Besides, vegans and Sandra Lee are like fish in a barrel, lets see him critique a top chef.
I think I like him too, though he is sort of a shock jock. What I like about him is that he does a good job of reflecting different cultures through food. and I guess American culture hates vegans and Sandra Lee….