Many people have a hate-on for Guy Fieri and everything he stands for. For those who don’t know him, he’s the host of “Triple-D,” aka Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, a popular show on the Food Network, plus he hosts or cohosts like a dozen other shows. Triple-D is celebrating its tenth anniversary, which means Fieri has been doing a lot of press in the past few weeks. He’s made some news for food-related reasons. The thing about Guy Fieri is that I get the criticism that he’s loud and obnoxious and all of that. But can you deny that he genuinely cares about food? Can you deny that he stands up for people who want simple, local cuisine that isn’t crazy-fancy or expensive? So, yeah, I’ve ended up as sort of a Guy Fieri Apologist somehow. Anyway, there are two big headlines from his recent interviews: one, he hates eggs and two, his famous “Donkey Sauce” is just aioli.

The changes he’s seen in conversations about food in the past decade: “The Food Revolution is a term I continue to use, I think some other people use it, but to me it’s what really best describes what’s going on. We have come so far, and then made such a change in the ’80s and ’90s, and finally turned it back around and realized all these ill-effects we’re having with processed foods, and fast food, and so forth. Everything has its place — I’m not a fast-food basher, by any means. You just have to keep things in moderation. Everybody has their indulgences. I think that what we are realizing and seeing with kids a lot is that we have to really get straight on what we’re doing, and what we’re eating, and how we’re eating it, and moderation and responsibility.

The hidden truth about his Donkey Sauce: “You’re stereotyping it. If we called it aioli, does that make it sexier? It’s aioli. This goes back to that exact comment that I said in the beginning: it’s about moderation. I called it Donkey Sauce because you have to make fun of it. It’s a quintessential ingredient in so many aspects of food, yet probably not the most beneficial except for flavor, probably the least beneficial, but it does have its place. All food has its place. Pepperoni pizza has its place. Pastries have their place. Croissants have their place. The thing is picking when, where, how, what, and why you eat them. I think if you are going to eat a croissant, you should eat a really great one. I don’t know that you should eat the one that came packaged that was made three weeks ago in Schenectady and shipped in a box to your store in California.

How he “notoriously hates eggs”: “Oh, I eat eggs every once in a while. My buddy Andrew Zimmern, he was on the show in Minneapolis a couple of years ago, and they put a raw egg on the pizza and he said, “C’mon, eat it.” Alright. Hard-boiled and scrambled — that’s just not the way I like to party. My wife will sit there and bust that yolk and scoop with the bread and the whole thing and …”

[From Thrillist & Tampa Bay Times]

I find it satisfying that he admits that his Donkey Sauce – an absurd name – is simply his version of aioli. He admits that with a shrug and yet it’s making headlines all over the place. But really, I love that he doesn’t care about eggs. He doesn’t like to party with eggs. Neither do I! I’ve never been an egg person. Like, scrambled, omlettes, hard-boiled, etc. Never cared. So that’s yet another reason why I’m sort of a Fieri Apologist: egg-haters of the world unite! Also, I find that I agree with his food philosophy – everything in moderation is a lot better philosophy than goat-milk-only cleanses or whatever Tom Brady is doing.

Photos courtesy of WENN.