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Several months ago, DCist published an interview with Anthony Bourdain, in which he took Bay Area chef Alice Waters to task for aggressively pushing organic, local foods (that tend to be pricey) during the middle of a recession. Bourdain later followed up, twice, making sure to mention that he felt bad about his statements against "Saint Alice." He said that he was prepared to eat humble pie when he would share the stage with her and Charm City Cakes' Duff Goldman, during a panel discussion sponsored by the Connecticut Forum.
The event finally happened last week, but the interview didn't come up. Instead, Waters and Bourdain danced around the topic of local food prices and the recession, without ever fully addressing it.
Even so, the video above highlights plenty of conflict in their respective belief systems. Waters makes clear that she is driven by idealism, while Bourdain focuses on that which is easily obtainable and pleasurable. For instance, when Waters suggests providing a free healthy breakfast, lunch and snack to every child, Bourdain counters that he puts "literacy above that as a priority."
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Waters is an ivory tower elitist, Bourdian is a gourmandising jerk.
Advantage: Bourdain.
I would go even simple - they're both douchebags - but OK, I see you're point.
Wow, this sounds like a real Lincoln-Douglas debate.
When I read the title of this post, I thought it was going to be about Bourdian vs. John Waters.
Butter humiliation vs being pummelled by books? And this isn't on pay-per-view why?
Bourdian has no room to talk. He kicked off a show that was all about him and his famous friends getting together to eat OBSCENELY overpriced foods and chat about how wonderful it was being them for an hour.
Luckily - for Tony - the show launched just as the economy collapsed and was killed, so it probably only aired that once and he can pretend it never happened.
I think there is a big difference between celibrating and enjoying expensive foods and promoting a food distribution revolution that does not take into account human poverty.
It is all fun and games when you are waving your finger and *tisk tisk*ing over factory farm raised $1.99 lb chicken breasts; but how do you tell a family on food stamps that they're evil for not buying $6 lb locally raised organic chickens?
He owned up to that horrible show - and is sorry it ever happened. The plug was pulled by all involved, for content reasons, not economics.
http://anthony-bourdain-blog.travelchannel.com/read/pressure-drop
"Failure has a stench all its own."
Bourdian is a guy who speaks his mind. I don't always agree, but it is refreshing to hear a man talk without being overly concerned about how PC it is.
Jeez, I have to live with almost 24hr Food Channel playing in the background, now here?
I'm wondering how Duff ended up on this panel...
"Hey let's talk about how my inedible cakes use free range fondant!?!?"
Bourdain talks tough, but he wusses out in person. Anyone see him kiss Emeril's ass in his NO episode after talking smack on him for years?
Duff is awesome. I hope he gets married so one day he can fulfill his life's dream of making an all-meat wedding cake. As a good Baltimore son, I'm sure he'd use pit beef for layering.
Bourdain came around on Emeril and admitted he was wrong.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/07/25/DI2006072501108.htmlHahaha! I was the one who sent in that question to him! Small world.
So the guy's not allowed to have a change of heart? Sure, Emeril's unwatchable when he's "performing" before an audience, but when it's just him and the camera, it's an interesting show. There's also the fact that he and Batali are actualy chefs who've worked their way up the food chain and operate their own restaurants. Then there's overpaid celebritard "personalities" like Rachel Ray, who isn't really a chef, but someone who's managed to turn throwing-slop-together-in-10-minutes into a jokerfaced empire. Neither she or Sandra Lee would last five minutes running the kitchen in a place like Les Halles. So yeah, Bourdain's a loudmouthed jerk but he's earned that right.
Mmmm...Les Halles. I was very, very sad when they skipped town.
Actually, Bourdain had no affiliation with the Les Halles in DC, and since he left the one he worked at in NYC, the place has really gone downhill. They seem to make all their money off tourists who expect to see him working in the kitchen or something.
Never knew that. Haven't been to the one in NYC in a few years. But now that you mention it, the last time I was in NYC a bunch of fellow convention goers all piled into a cab to go there.
"Bourdain talks tough, but he wusses out in person."
That pretty much sums up every blog commenter on earth
Obvious troll is, indeed, obvious.
speak for yourself.
talking tough scares me.
Okay, you guys scare me.
I'm scared of German Shepherds
(aside) Do they just call them 'Shepherds' in Deutschland?
They call them Alsatians in England, so I assume the German is probably close to that.
I wouldn't ask the Germans OR the French about it. They're still kinda sore about it.
How about we just call them "the goosestepping nazis of the canine world" and leave it at that?
In Spotsylvania they call them "sexy bitches"
You know what's scary? A guy in a squirrel outfit coming after you with his junk hanging out his crotch flap. That and clowns.
Alice Waters is not a PURE & SINCERE Sustainability advocate. She's says one thing and does another. Case in point is her desire to eat Shark Fin Soup.
It has no nutitional value at all and is considered as an "Elite Prestige Food".
Here is a summary that appears on the Alice Waters Wikipedia site:
Her Chez Panisse Restaurant web page says: "All our produce, meat, poultry, and fish come from farms, ranches, and fisheries guided by principles of sustainability." [5]
On May 14, 2009, Waters said that ".... she would like to have shark fin soup as a final meal." [6] "That doesn't sound very sustainable or local!" quipped Bourdain with a lighthearted smirk. Quipped a leading sustainability advocate: "If it is served as Alice's final meal, how about renourishing the sharks in San Francisco Bay with Leg of Alice ... that would seal her fate as the ultimate in sustainability!" The Sea Shepherd Society say that "[t]his soup has no flavor and absolutely no nutritional value. It is a dish served only for prestige purposes." [7]
The Sea Shepherd Society? Like I'm gonna take dining recommendations from these guys. They must be pretty bad if Greenpeace is chewing them out.
Now will you PLEASE pass the terrapin soup and the sherry?
Did you edit the Wikipedia article, too?
HEY EVERYONE I HAVE AN OPINION ON ANTHONY BOURDAIN TOO!