I’m not sure if I am able to write about chef/writer/traveler Anthony Bourdain without sounding like I have my head up his ass. But if I didn’t already think he was the coolest and most rock food “celebrity” out there before I went to see him speak at the Keller Auditorium last Friday night, I totally do now.
Why Bourdain rules:
1.Because the man has paid his dues. After putting in nearly 30 years of (mostly) NYC kitchen time, he wrote an engaging and compelling memoir —Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (2000). The book gave us a peek into restaurant kitchens, including a bunch of stuff we might have been happier not knowing. Yes, restaurants are often filthy holes helmed by a contemptuous lot. This was followed up with A Cook’s Tour and No Reservations, both detailing his extensive global travel and eating adventures.
2. Because he doesn’t bullshit. When fed fermented shark in Iceland on his Travel Channel show, No Reservations, he doesn’t feign enjoyment. When a food tastes like diapers or toe jam, he lets you know about it.
3. Because he is a tall drink of water. He is lean, lanky and his lats and triceps are fucking cut for a 53-year old (or 23 year-old, for that matter). And he knows how to dress. Whether in jeans and a muscle T (gotta show off those sweet guns and ink) or cool, breezy linen pants and sandals, he always looks good. With all due respect to Batali, we will never, mercifully, see Tony rocking the safety-orange Crocs.
4. Because during his last visit to Portland he proclaimed: “If you can’t find enjoyment in a bacon maple bar (from Voodoo Doughnuts), there’s no hope for you.
5. Because he has, on recent episodes of No Reservations, visited Alice Cooper, David Johansen and The Nuge. I mean, come on!
After entering the stage to rock show cheers, Bourdain launched into a stream of spot-on, profanity-laced observations on food, eating, and fellow celebrity chefs. Starting with his impatience for the highly revered Alice Waters, he posited: “Mother of Slow Food or dangerous demagogue?”—questioning the danger and ultimate cost of focusing entirely on food’s provenance rather than preparation.
Bourdain raised the point that a cooking celebrity need not be an actual chef in order to “be good for the world.” “Julia Child was not a chef, but she changed the world and raised the bar on how America cooked and ate.” Sandra Lee (host of The Food Network’s Semi-Homemade)…not so much. Other non-chefs making the “good for the world” cut included Ina Garten, Alton Brown and Giada De Laurentiis.
Perhaps most resonant with the audience was Bourdain’s stance on vegetarianism, particularly with regard to world travel. Applying the “grandma theory,” he stressed that snubbing meat when a guest in somebody’s home is “just fuckin’ rude!” “Fuck your principles, you’re in my house. If grandma makes shitty food, you smile and eat it!”
Following the hour-long address was another hour of Q & A, the level of pertinence and originality of the questions sometimes falling short. When asked the inevitable and predictable what have you eaten during your visit to Portland? Have you been able to taste our locally-raised lamb and artisan cheeses, Bourdain promptly shot back: “If I get some nuts out of the mini bar, I’ll be doing good.”
He actually did much better than that when an adoring fan presented him with a bag containing his long-lost lover, the Voodoo bacon maple bar. Supposing the grandma theory goes both ways, I will assume Bourdain would have accepted a live, buckwheat-crusted, cashew cheese-topped pizza with similar gusto and grace.
Image of Anthony Bourdain courtesy of www.travelchannel.com.
Bourdain may not be aware that some vegetarians may become quite sick if they eat meat. Even if they became vegetarian for ethical or political or whatever other “principled” reason, eventually one’s body may really turn against meat. And it is particularly so for lifelong vegetarians. I think in general he’s correct that when it comes to world travel one has an obligation to be as open as possible, but it’s certainly realistic to respect other people’s health, allergies, religious prohibitions, etc.
It’s a subtle point, and subtlety does not a celebrity chef rock star make. Besides, it’s always more cheering to tell other people to fuck their principles.
Ms Miller, while it is true Mr Bourdain boldly declared in Iceland that fermented shark is the worst thing he had ever put in his mouth, his 1/2hr program in Stumptown was less than edifying. He liked local body ink, painting on black velvet, limited edition pizza, eclectic doughnuts, the shanghai tunnels, and his friend at the Heathman.
He missed too much to value his earlier visit here or his opinion about this city’s culinary culture. For example, nothing about local vintages. The nearest his show got to the pinots noir et gris that have become so identified with this region was a medium-long shot at the campsite near Lost Lake with PhilippeB in which a couple of bottles were too distant even to proffer a guess regarding their provenance.
Regarding his lats and ‘ceps being “fucking cut for a 53-year-old,” he has spent a lot of his tv minutes discovering how physically unfit he has become.
Mr Bourdain has journeyed a long way on “No Reservations”: he has stopped smoking and reduced the slaughter depicted. He has even become less abusive toward vegetarians.
All this being said, his Travel program is well worth watching. When he has been properly prepped and brings passion to his script — such as the programs on Namibia and Laos — he offers a perspective that no one else has attempted.
Hi Gardiner Menefree,
I guess I haven’t ever caught the moments on the show when Mr. Bourdain’s lack of fitness has become apparent. I’ll watch for that.
As far as what he covered on the show’s visit to Portland a couple years ago, keep in mind – it IS a Travel Channel show. In other words, it is appropriate for the subject matter to stray from food (Shanghai Tunnels, velvet painting museum, etc.)
And regarding the local vintages, as he said the other night – beer and wine don’t make good food porn; it is simply not visually compelling. And really, does the world need to know more about our wineries and microbreweries? Seems like there’s already been plenty of coverage on this.
As he also mentioned during his talk, a person reporting on food and/or travel should not feel obliged to offer a comprehensive report on the offerings of a given locale – only his own point of view and experience. I guess I agree with that.
Joanna Miller, Tony Bourdain was wheezing just trying to negotiate a slope in New Zealand during a boar hunt; he called attention to it himself. And again on a soccer field in Sao Paolo. He was chain-smoking through the first couple of years of “No Reservations.” The absence of cigarettes from recent shows is not accidental.
Then there was the abandonment of the caving expedition in Jamaica: he was physically incapable of continuing.
You haven’t seen many of the programs, have you?
He simply dissed Stumptown in his Northwest program, which was divided between this city and Seattle. (Vancouver BC was accorded its own hour.) For a guy who proclaims marrow his favorite food, he didn’t get near Paley’s. Indeed, no mention at all of sustainable dining: no Greg Higgins, no Cory Schreiber; no suggestion of the relationships of restaurants to their agricultural and aquacultural surrounds. Just a camping trip to Lost Lake with his pal from the Heathman, a fine and prominent chef who brought the meal. Nothing edifying.
Perhaps we should thank him for making Portland so unappealing that no one will want to visit. But the culinary culture is superb here and I’d like our restaurateurs to continue doing what they do so well. Certainly our mayor and his PDOT make it very difficult for them every winter; last December, the “shovel your own walk” advice that left our streets impassable during the critical holiday season weakened some of our finest restaurants and destroyed others. They can use help.
In the end, Tony Bourdain is entertaining but hardly worth $46 or more. He really doesn’t have much to say to Portland and he really hasn’t tried. This is not to suggest that you shouldn’t be entertained by him or that Ms Miller should not adopt a spread-legs policy toward tv celebrities.
Jeez, isn’t anyone sick of this guy by now? Says the same old same old over and over again with the obligatory profanity. He and his show are BORING!