Anthony Bourdain in 2017 Photo: Getty Images / AFP
American chef, author and TV presenter Anthony Bourdain (1956-2018) spoke to Kim Hill back in 2010 after the publication of Medium Raw, the sequel to his best-selling memoir Kitchen Confidential.
On people taking food seriously:
"It's an extension of who people are, what they love, where they come from...
"Try arguing which is the best New York pizzeria on a food website and you'll get death threats."
On food ethics:
"I'm the best kind of hypocrite. I may be critical of fetishising expensive organic food but I sure as hell will feed my daughter nothing but organic food."
"Every chicken than ever was used in a KFC has had a far more horrendous life than the animals that are used in foie gras."
"[McDonald's supplier Cargill Meat Solutions] are soaking cuts of meat in ammonia … I see the hamburger as a great, noble and iconic American dish and I don't think there should be cleaning products in it."
"Repeated or frequent exposure to Ronald McDonald might cause headlice, I've heard it said."
“Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer.” This is how I’ll remember Tony. He taught us about food — but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We’ll miss him. pic.twitter.com/orEXIaEMZM
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 8, 2018
On the personalities of chefs:
"I think they're shy, generally. The business has always attracted people who felt uncomfortable outside of the absolutes of the kitchen. I think even at their noisiest, most chefs – even if they're Type A in the kitchen – outside of the kitchen are kind of lost boys or [lost] women who sense something in themselves that would not survive in the outside world or would not flourish the way it has inside the kitchen."
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