SFist: Quote of the Day: Anthony Bourdain Slams Alice Waters

westwingpotus

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:33:20 -0800

LOL.. I just love Anthony Bourdain. He’s Smart, literate, funny, and most important, totally willing to speak up when the emperor has no clothes on. Any man who despises Rachel Ray and Sandra Lee is OK by me and on the opposite end, anyone is willing to call out the ignorant, officious, and pretentious – as Waters was here -- is OK by me too. Waters embarrassed herself with her letter, showing her ignorance of the fact that the white house chef has been serving local and organic for years. And her letter which essentially called for the replacement (e.g. firing) of the white house chef , and offering to replace her with one of Water’s toady’s was just totally classless and smacks of good old fashioned bullying.

Joel

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:40:16 -0800

I like Bourdain and somewhat agree with what he's saying here but he said it pretty badly.

bennyinsf

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:56:14 -0800

Bourdin, who cares what you think. You're grotesque.

manys

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:30:57 -0800

...because Bourdain does nothing if not push people to eat more Burger King? Is that about right?

CTFORUM

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 08:52:54 -0800

Anthony and Alice will be appearing TOGETHER live in Hartford CT along with Duff Goldman from the Ace of Cakes...check it out at http://ctforum.org/events/events.asp?event_id=118

mamcart

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:14:04 -0800

I love Anthony Bourdain, and I absolutely love that he takes celebrity chefs down a few pegs. Now my problem with Alice Waters is in line with what Ziarah said. I aspire to eat at Alice Waters' restaurant or one of her projects, but it's the kind of thing I have to save up for. And especially in these economic times, she shouldn't be surprised that people will gravitate to the cheap, non-organic tomatoes sold at a regular old grocery store instead of the crazy $4/lb organic/heirloom/specialty tomatoes that are being sold (I'm looking squarely at you, Real Foods). And no, just because you can't afford $4/lb. tomatoes does not mean you're eating at McDonald's every day, it just means you don't have a trust fund.

ziarah

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:43:10 -0800

While I don't really know anything about Bourdain, he's kind of right on this point. I've seen things recently where Alice Waters said it was OK for organic food to go on being as expensive as it is right now because people deserve a fair wage for producing it. OK, I agree with that, but that puts it out of price-reach for many people, and it's not like only some of us need healthy food.

SFBurke

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:18:38 -0800

Alice Waters can definitely get a bit tedious and self-important at times but she would still be a better leader than Pol Pot (hey, at least organic rice would be served in the re-education camps).

Barbara

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:52:49 -0800

Ha, I was thinking the Rush Limbaugh of the food world, but I think you nailed it.

RollingJ415

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:02:01 -0800

@dantsea, totally. I'd bet that eating healthy/organic is in the long run cheaper than eating .99-cent Whaoppers(tm) when you factor in health care, weight loss, well-meaning but never-used gym memberships, etc. And, not all value is monetary, even if health care were free health is priceless, as they say.

dantsea

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:34:27 -0800

Anthony Bourdain is fast becoming the Ann Coulter of the celebrity chef universe.

Ciaran

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:32:34 -0800

What does Bourdain have to do with food anymore? Kitchen Confidential (the book) was fun, but that was a long time ago. I expect he wants you to save money so you can spend it on his books and TV shows.

travin

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:07:51 -0800

This guy's opinion matters, why exactly?

phlavor

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:57:07 -0800

What a douche. It's cheaper for me to buy organic at the Alemany Farmers' Market than it is for me to buy at Safeway or TJ's. If he's talking about the Ferry Building then, yeah he's got a point.

BeejW

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:34:45 -0800

Anthony Bourdain enjoys the smell of his own farts so much I'm surprised he can taste anything at all.

what

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:30:40 -0800

Alice Waters killed a million people? Damn. Now I'm NEVER going to eat at Chez Panisse.