Anthony Bourdain is a Chef in the same way that Henry Kissinger is a political figure. That is: Anthony – with his broad persona and near-fabled attitude to what everybody else in the food world is doing – is what could best be described as the food equivalent to a platinum selling one man band. He does it all, and he’s damn good at doing it.
After graduating from culinary school in the late 70’s to working his way up to being head chef at New York City’s very fashionable and supremely delicious Les Halles, Anthony’s story runs from heavy drug use to mob encounters. His autobiography – Kitchen Confidential – serves as a recollection of not just the love of food but what one does to stay in the food game. From early stories about a drunk bride giving it up to Bourdain’s then boss behind the dumpster a night before her wedding day to striking out of luck in the late 80’s in New York and working in some of the strangest mob run restaurants ever put to paper, Kitchen Confidential became a runaway hit and remains one of the ultimate go-to books for a real and honest look at what it’s like to work in the food industry. Since then, he’s published several other books – half of which are non-fictional accounts of world cuisine and the other half of which are food related fiction. Needless to say, the dude can write.
Due to the success of his literary career Bourdain got his own show on The Food Network entitled ‘A Cooks Travels’ – which in 2005 was repackaged on The Travel Channel as “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations”. The show is without a doubt the single most watchable thing on the network and has garnered many awards for its pure honesty and lack of pretension.
Watch as dude eats a still beating cobra heart:
Eating tacos in Mexico:
And the intro to the now infamous special “Food Porn”:
Comments
Laura
July 13th, 2009 - 3:28:44 PM
I'm sorry, but Anthony Bourdain is just an asshole. "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." Yeah, that's real open-minded. What a pretentious, hateful guy.
1
ned
July 13th, 2009 - 7:43:04 PM
yeah, but vegetarians ARE assholes. all of them. every single one. even the little ones. ESPECIALLY the little ones.
2
Mike
July 14th, 2009 - 1:15:51 PM
It's true. Vegetarians are assholes.There is not a single rational explanation for being vegetarian. Animals eat and kill other animals to survive. It's called nature. Ohhh cattle and poultry slaughter houses are inhumane? Have you ever seen what a lion does to an antelope?
3
GeraldM459 (omnivore)
July 28th, 2009 - 12:36:07 AM
Anthony Bourdain IS a pompous, pretentious asshole with an exaggerate sense of his own importance.
4
Olga
November 9th, 2009 - 10:11:18 AM
I completely agree, He is a pretentious, condescending asshole!
5
LOL
February 20th, 2010 - 1:32:52 PM
This guy rocks!
6
Hadrian
September 3rd, 2010 - 1:59:56 AM
Anthony Bourdain is an asshole because he is a Jew. In case you haven't been paying attention for the past three thousand years, that's what Jews do.
7
Nick
September 6th, 2010 - 6:07:38 PM
Bourdain is less than sub-human. What a Neanderthalic miscreant. My God. Is there no bigger piece of shit? It's a pathetically sad comment on the state of civilization that this rabid animal Bourdain is lionized in many quarters. Hopefully he'll soon die a slow, agonizing death from some rare, exotic food parasite.
8
dormouse
September 7th, 2010 - 7:33:03 PM
animals are alive, and you only eat them because they taste good. what is irrational is having a double standard of what animals you will and will not eat. Will you eat a dolphin? Would you eat a retard stupider than a pig? Will you eat your friend's pet? Does an animal that isn't loved by humans because it's cute not deserve the same consideration? At least be consistent. Inconsistency is irrationality.
9
GeraldM459
September 7th, 2010 - 8:07:33 PM
@dormouse: Strictly speaking, plants are alive too and who can honestly say that they aren't aware and utterly horrified that we "higher" life forms use them to make and enjoy as ratatouille? Speaking of dolphins...they are great as sushi-mi, add some wasabi paste and mmm mmm good! As for my friends pet, I've often wondered what delicious Siao Pao that pampered pussy would make.
10
kuhndog 75
August 6th, 2011 - 10:24:30 PM
I found him pretentious on the daily show when he said that the existence of olive garden and chili's offended him. It's as if he believes that there should only be 5 star restaraunts so that only the rich can go out and eat. Why doesn't he just say to the middle and lower class "Stay your poor asses at home. If you can't afford the finest dining then you should either cook your own food or go hungry." Of course everyone would prefer to go to the best restaraunts or fly around the world to eat exotic foods but, for most of us, that would be the only time we would eat that month. I think it's a given that you would never catch him (or any millionaire) at Chili's for lunch, but there is no need to make everyone else feel like a piece of crap because that's the only places you can afford to go.
11