A lot of people like Anthony Bourdain. I understand that. But I think he’s a douche-canoe. He’s like a bitchy middle-schooler stuck in the body of an aging hipster. Bourdain has a long history of saying bitchy things about nearly every well-known celebrity chef/cook. In one of his most recent interviews, Bourdain hit out at Adam Richmond and Guy Fieri, which is sort of like shooting fish in a barrel. But Bourdain did have nice things to say about Ina Garten, and as it turns out, Bourdain sort of hate-respects Alton Brown. You may know Alton as the commentator on Iron Chef America and Cutthroat Kitchen, and Alton also has a stand-alone show, Good Eats, where he explains the science behind cooking.
In the past, this is what Bourdain has said about Alton: “He’s smart. You actually learn something from his commentary. I’lll admit it, I watch and enjoy Iron Chef America in all its cheesy glory.” So, Alton is promoting a new Food Network show, Camp Cutthroat (which looks terrible), and amongst other questions, Brown was asked about Bourdain’s constant bitchery towards other chefs. Some highlights:
Brown has been with the Food Network since 1999: “Once Food Network moved out of being an emerging network into a full-fledged television network, it had to fight for the same number of eyeballs as everybody else did. And that, by and large, in the last decade of our media generation, has been competition. That’s what most people want to watch.”
On Anthony Bourdain: “I don’t have to defend my skills against anybody. I’ve got 14 years and 252 episodes of a show called Good Eats that I’m pretty sure I can use as a résumé for my skills. When was the last time you saw Anthony Bourdain actually cook anything? I’ve spent 14 years cooking my own food on television and I’ve never seen him cook a meal. I will say this: I think that [he] is probably the best writer about food. I’m jealous of his work. He pokes a lot of things and that’s fine; you have to have critics, issue provocateurs, so to speak […] I’m a fan, and the few times I’ve gotten to work with him I enjoyed it immensely.”
Was it the kind of throwdown insults and name-calling I was hoping for? Not really. I would have loved it if Alton had thrown in a “he’s a douche-canoe too” just for me. Basically, I kind of think Alton’s assessment is pretty on-target. Alton knows a lot about food, cooking, and the science behind it all. He’s also an excellent cook. Anthony Bourdain is just a good travel/food writer who rarely does any actual cooking.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I love Alton! I miss good eats.
Oh, me too! I started watching Good Eats when I first got married, and I honestly didn’t know how to cook a thing. I feel like he taught me how to cook. #TeamAlton
Forget these guys. British cook off shows on PBS are the best.
Same!!!
I still watch reruns! His concept was: Julia Child (Informative), Mr. Wizard (Science), and Monty Python (Wacked Out Humor).
It’s my happy place to zone out to the Food Network. I can not stand drama or angst. I don’t even watch those competition shows or anything with a clock ticking down.
Alton is so hot in a smart/sexy way!!!
TEAM ALTON.
I follow him on facebook. He supports a lot of smaller, fledgling restaurants from all over the country, and he posts a ton of great recipes and tips. He definitely knows what he’s doing and is getting better.
Plus, he once posted a picture of himself in jeans taken from behind, and he has a really nice butt.
Absolutely Team Alton. Bourdain is a tool.
When you look like that, cooking’s not a requirement. 😏
I actually like both of them but Team Bourdain always and 4-Eva.
Yes. I like Bourdain’s brand of douchiness, I gotta say.
I like Bourdain too. I like his abrasive personality.
I am Team Bourdain too, though he does oftentimes come off as a real biotch.
That said, I wish Alton would stop with the dumb TV shows. I loved Good Eats but now it’s just one moronic competition show after another…when was the last time HE cooked anything, really? I like him a lot, he seems really smart and genuine, but man, he’s basically grabbing at any TV time he can get.
Me too. Absolutely love Bourdain and I will never apologize for that. He is just so sexy.
I like both of them too, but this is embarrassing for Alton. Bourdain has a REALLY extensive history in being an executive chef at many prestigious restaurants, so it seems kind of petty and inaccurate to paint him like he is a Rachel Ray/Sandra Lee type of uneducated home cook. Dude knows how to cook, not a question.
I love Bourdain. He’s smart, witty and talks dirty. Plus he’s hot.
Actually, the episodes Bourdain did in Lebanon were very good tv: reality intruded big time on his travelogue.
If it’s a competition, Bourdain wins. His snarkiness is part of his persona. He even whines. Who cares? He’s brilliant, he sees the bigger issues, he’s more than food. And Alton WISHES he could have Tony’s sex appeal!
LOVE Bourdain…I’m about everything food and could watch him all day for a number of reasons.
Alton’s smart but leaves me cold, and I HATE his stupid Cutthroat Kitchen show.
Good Eats is probably the ONLY cooking show I watch. very interesting stuff.
When is Good Eats even on…he quit making that show years ago. Are they still showing repeats? If so, I’ve missed them.
Some of them are on YouTube. But don’t tell anybody, I don’t want them taken down. 🙂
I’ve seen re-runs lately…but not sure what channel…I’d guess that Food Network just reruns them?…
Food network. Every night two back to back episodes. 11o’clock.
There are currently 25 episodes of Good Eats on Netflix.
Kaiser I completely agree with your assessment of Anthony Bourdain that he’s a douche-canoe bitchy middle-schooler stuck in the body of an aging hipster. I lthink Alton handle that question very well.
Ha ha! I love both of them. Alton Brown is very, very knowledgeable about cooking and food science. And Anthony Bourdain is a writer and provides commentary, not someone that you would watch to see how shepherd’s pie is made. While both are hosts of competition shows now, for a long time they had 2 very different roles in the food world.
I also love both of them. Remember, Bourdain was a working chef for a long time and Brown has never cooked in a commercial kitchen, so they’re coming at this from two totally different POVs.
Exactly.
+1
Until I saw your comment, I was puzzled about why anyone would dismiss Bourdain’s cooking skills. He is trained AND he ran restaurants as resident chef for decades.
Travel writing is his retirement, but that doesn’t mean he can’t cook or that what he says is coming from a place of ignorance. Besides, he mostly plays up that brash Noo Yorker attitude.
To be fair to Brown, he didn’t claim that Bourdain didn’t know how to cook or wasn’t a real chef or anything of that nature. He was specifically calling out Bourdain on how recently he’d been one, not on his past experience.
My husband used to be a cook for a living (but eventually realized that if he ever wanted to see his children he may want to look into seguing into a job with more traditional hours) and among that crowd Bourdain is a favorite. He is a guy who has been in the trenches so to speak, who genuinely loves food, but who has chosen a different narrative for his work than just “Anthony Bourdain is a cook” and is going to show you how to make XXXX. To be honest I find Brown’s jab a little puzzling just because everyone knows that Bourdain was a working chef for a very long time, AND his shows are more typically travelogues with a lot of eating. Plus, it is a very hard life as a professional chef, no one would have expected him to continue on in a kitchen every day once his writing hit it big.
Um, Alton has been a guest on Bourdain’s show. They’re friendly.
And Bourdain himself has said he is only a good cook, not a great one. I am inclined to think the person that likes Alton Brown’s response about Bourdain the best is probably Bourdain.
I agree with this assessment. Bourdain loves attention and strikes me as someone who is amused rather than offended by a little trash talking. I think this is mostly friendly.
Also, it’s not like either of them said anything that wasn’t true.
Totally agree. Bourdain just does not take himself that seriously.
Alton Brown is my nerd-crush. Ever since I saw the first episode of “Good Eats” I’ve been in love with that man. I like Bourdain, too, but he can be a huge douche-canoe.
Game, set, match: Brown
I respect both guys, but I LOVE Bourdain bc not only is he talented, self deprecating, and accomplished, he is also such a New Yorker. Bourdain also admits that he doesn’t cook anymore bc his travel gigs are so much more enjoyable than to be in a commercial kitchen dealing with diners, so I don’t think it’s fair to ask when was the last time he cooked something bc he’s essentially retired from it. I’m totally ok with letting him rest on his well deserved laurels now. I think what makes Bourdain great is that he IS a straight shooter, but I also think he’s fair about it. Honestly has its place in this world, and a lot of what Bourdain has said isn’t wrong to a lot of people. Fieri is gross. Iron Chef is a little cheesy. However, I am also the type of person that doesn’t need everyone in the room to be happy or placated with false niceness and ass kissing.
I also think Anthony had some addiction issues that he deals with better when he’s not cooking at a restaurant. It’s possible that I’m confusing him with someone else, but I thought I read that about him.
You’re right, GNAT. Bourdain has been very open about his past drug use.
Bourdain has a past history of drug use, and kitchens are very difficult places for people trying to steer away from substances. And working a kitchen is a tough, tough job filled with long hours and terrible pay. No one would have chosen to continue in the kitchen when given the opportunity to have a television show and continue writing.
agree! Unfortunately I’ve never even heard of Alton Brown but I’ve loved watching and reading Bourdain for years. And if Bourdain isn’t on your “dream dinner party” guest list, I don’t want to know you.
Fieri is gross and so is his food. I LOVED that both Bourdain and the NYT called him out. I like honest. Bourdain is honest. Is he always right? Nope. But he is what he is, take it or leave it. I take.
I’m w/ you Meme. I appreciate people who are direct and don’t pussyfoot around or make passive-aggressive comments (the thing I despise most about anyone). That…and lying.
I agree, Fieri is gross.
Bourdain is not a New Yorker, he’s from NJ. Also, he was addicted to Heroin for a very long time.
Alton is a cook/chef, Bourdain thinks he is a critic. Unfortunately Bourdain goes beyond analysis of the culinary goods to unnecessarily insult people on a personal level at times, and although it can be entertaining, it diminishes any status of being a legit food critic. He’s a ‘personality’, nothing more. really.
Kiddo, +1000.
Every time I see Bourdain his actions and tone reek of insecurity. That’s why his bitchiness at others is so off. Or perhaps it’s that very insecurity that makes him say the pointless snark comments about others.
I have to disagree with you there. I don’t think Bourdain would ever have described himself as a critic, he’s always been much more of a travelogue. And as someone who has watched many of his shows I have to say, he saves his real snark for people that can handle it – on his actual shows he’s beyond respectful of people and things he encounters.
For what it’s worth, Bourdain and Brown tend to have similar fanbases. Cooks tend to love Bourdain because he was definitely ‘one of them’ in the trenches, and they’ll be the same people that say Good Eats is the only thing worth watching on the Food Network.
I have abandoned the Food Network altogether since they jumped on the reality bandwagon. I prefer PBS shows, these days.
I’m all about PBS now too. Not just food shows, but news-education-Masterpiece, etc.
Did you see Poldark? Yummy, Aidan Turner 🙂
II like the occasional Iron Chef, but haven’t even watched that in years because the people that they have chosen as newer Iron Chefs aren’t exactly impressive. PLUS it’s hard to watch a competition knowing the the food network personality has the Food Network test kitchen to practice and prepare and have all the ingredients provided. It’s like watching a volleyball match against a one armed person.
Plus, Anthony Bourdain is always good for a snarky Food Network quote. The man has hated them for years.
I completely agree with you Kiddo. if you want to learn how to cook, the Food Network isn’t great on teaching technique. High on the style, low on the substance.
Sorry but I disagree, Kiddo.
Bourdain is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and ran various restaurants in NYC including Brasserie Les Halles. He was an executive chef for many, many years.
Brown on the other hand, has never worked as a chef in any restaurant, ever. He’s only ever cooked on a television set. He’s a cinematographer who got a culinary education so he could make television shows about food.
+1, Bridget. Bourdain has never tried to market himself as anything other than what he is. He definitely doesn’t see himself as a food critic.
I’m not talking about the past, I’m talking about right now. And a chef that I know who has won numerous awards, including the Beard award several times, never went to any culinary school, but actually had a educational background in science. Maybe Alton is just a ‘TV chef’, but that doesn’t make Bourdain any less of a ‘personality’ now.
But isn’t that part of what makes Alton so good? His whole platform is that anybody can churn out food as good (or close to) what a professional can do. That’s part of the culinary school racket – you don’t really NEED it to cook well or even incredibly well. Bourdain even admits that. It’s good for a solid knowledge base, but it’s wholly unnecessary. And Bourdain is a champion for regional and peasant cuisines – the overwhelming majority of makers of which never went to a school in their life to learn it. So I’m not sure why going to culinary school should be such a marker of achievement.
That’s kind of the point, though. Bourdain hasn’t even been on the Food Network itself in well over a decade – No Reservations was on the Travel Channel, and even when he was on the Food Network his show was “A Chef’s Tour”. He spent a very long time doing shows about traveling and local cuisine, not how to prepare food. It’s only when he went to ABC that’s he’s done anything that’s even close to some sort of food criticism, and I have a hard time calling calling a reality competition actual food criticism. Alton Brown KNOWS his food, but these two guys do very different things and it’s a little like comparing apples and oranges.
@Kiddo-I thought your point was that Alton was somehow more of a chef than Bourdain. I just disagree with the idea that someone who’s goal was to make good cooking shows is somehow more of a chef than someone who slaved away in hot kitchens for many years, working his way up from dishwasher to executive chef.
Alton spends most of his time as a talk show host and an advisor on Next Food Network Star, making the rare appearance on Iron Chef. When was the last time he cooked on TV? On Bourdain’s shows, he’ll walk into someone’s kitchen and start cooking side-by-side with people of different cultures, people who don’t speak the same language. To me the difference between the two is that Bourdain is most at home eating or cooking in some exotic locale and Alton is most at home on a TV set.
To me, a critic is someone who goes to restaurants with the express purpose of critiquing food. Bourdain doesn’t do that. He visits different areas of the world just to indulge in the various types of food that each region offers. He’s more of a food appreciator than a food critic.
Now how much do both of them cook at home? I assume they both cook regularly in their spare time. As I said, I like both of them, but I just disagree with your assessment. *shrugs*
@Sam-If going to a culinary institute isn’t valuable, then why would Alton go to New England Culinary school in an attempt to learn about cooking so he could produce the cooking shows he thought were missing in television? Alton himself must have considered it an achievement. Sure, many talented chefs do not have formal training, but that’s no reason to invalidate those that do.
Bridget, he is still a ‘personality’. He deserves no more respect than the entertainment value he produces TODAY, same as with Alton. I’m not a fan of either, really, but Alton does actively produce food. I’m also not a fan of Guy Fieri (sp?) but come on, he’s ripping him for wearing stupid clothes? They both do travel series on food, to VERY different markets. I fail to see how a background in food gives him some higher status beyond reproach on personal shit. That’s where people allow that he’s a real ‘critic’ because he was a chef, when really he’s no more than a PERSONALITY now, just like GUY.
I’m totally splitting hairs here (but why not, beats working!) but the whole point is, why on earth would we watch a travel show to learn how to cook in the first place? I think at this point anyone familiar with Anthony knows he’s a writer and ‘personality’.
Kitten: It’s not invalidating. A lot of television cooking personalities go to culinary school merely for the “cred”. Look at Giada. She’s admitted in interviews that she already knew how to cook before attending culinary school, but she felt obligated to do it because it’s sort of a “pre-req” to getting accepted into higher-end kitchens – not because it imparts any new knowledge, but simply because it was seen as what people who want to be chefs DO. But to me, that’s basically a racket – unless it’s imparting some meaningful, important knowledge that’s hard to come by otherwise, it’s not a really strong essential. Bourdain basically admits as such several times – noting that you essentially must go into incredible debt to enter a profession that pays at or near minimum way to most employees. It makes no economic sense. When I look at it that way, it almost seems foolish to do the culinary school path as opposed to self-learning and apprenticeships. But Bourdain sadly has been part of the movement propping it up as essential whereas Brown is part of the group pushing back against it – and it seems like Brown’s side is right. To me, I attribute Brown going probably as a play for “legitimacy” and probably not much else.
If I remember correctly, culinary school didn’t used to be so absurdly expensive. It helps to have the “classically trained” badge around your neck (and it especially gives you a little more cred among those that are culinary school trained themselves) but it isn’t a requirement to be a successful chef. It is one of the few jobs where you can still start at the bottom and have an opportunity to work your way up.
Plenty of successful CEOs don’t have MBAs, but that doesn’t make an MBA worthless. Still looks good on a resume and it’s still advantageous in a competitive job market, where every little “edge” counts.
Kiddo 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Bourdain will insult people he doesn’t like, like Fieri. However, he is incredibly kind and respectful to the people he features on his shows. He gained a lot of my respect from watching his latest CNN show – he truly shows an interest in the people and food and cultures he is documenting.
Bourdain is a chef and spent many years working the kitchen at Les Halles. He also went to the Culinary Institute when it wasn’t chic to do so and studied with a bunch of felons and thugs. I love me some Bourdain
Love Anthony Bourdain, Alton Brown and Ina Garten. That’s all.
Anthony Bourdain does have his bitchy moments, but I like it that he has respect for food and where it comes from. He’s promoting eating all parts of animals and not wasting anything. He also talks on behalf of those who work in the kitchen with very little pay. I have no idea if he is any good as a chef himself, and have wondered about that, but at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter to me. I’m not a big fan, but I do like him. Much more than many other celebrity chefs.
Except for the part where Bourdain built up one of the most famous restaurants in New York City, Brasserie Les Halles. He doesn’t cook *any more*, but Bourdain already did his time in the kitchen. Plus his Les Halles cook book is incredible. It’s like an education unto itself. I learned *so much* by reading it and even if you fail at a recipe, you’ll still learn to cook better because he talks a lot about the importance of tools and preparation in cooking. The Les Halles cook book is literally the only cook book I have, besides my shoebox of family recipes. Bourdain is a prick, I don’t deny that, but I think he is a great chef, too.
I agree that Anthony can be a jerk, but I sort of like him anyway. I find Alton’s recipes disappointing and I think he’s sort of a snooze. I’m not sure Alton’s criticism of Anthony makes much sense, as I always thought of Anthony as a food critic more than a chef anymore.
Alton is great – Bourdain is a frat boy.
Sadly, frat boy sh*t is quite popular.
Here’s the thing: cooking on TV and cooking in a restaurant are two very different situations. Alton has the know how, and I love his show for the science behind cooking. Bourdain sweated it out in restaurant kitchens and is the first to admit that he wasn’t a culinary genius. He know how to turn out meals and do it well. These guys are apples and oranges.
If it’s between the two of them, I’m Team Alton – but only because of Good Eats.
Bourdain has always sort of built his brand on the whole idea of “rockstar chef” who works through pain, has no outside life, lives only to cook, etc. He’s always seemed to have a really strong division between “real” chefs and cooks vs. home cooks who just prepare food for their families. Alton built his whole brand on Good Eats, which was a show totally devoted to the idea that a person at home can produce results just as good as a restaurant and that there really isn’t such a huge division between professionals and non-professionals. He was really devoted to the idea of getting people cooking and doing it themselves, whereas Bourdain has always championed the professional chef – a person who only has a job because people would rather not cook for themselves. I mean, I see them as sort of opposing forces in the food world. Although I never got the impression that they disliked each other, so I’m thinking this is more friendly banter than anything else.
But I will say that I have second-hand embarrassment for Alton now due to Cutthroat Kitchen. What a ridiculous show.
I know someone who worked with Bourdain at a book promo event and she said he was a total sweetheart, gracious, polite, thanked the staff for their hard work. His public image is a schtick and an admittedly obnoxious one but people behind the scenes love working with him.
That’s my take too- like he dials up the jaded New Yorker Schick persona , just the way Ina dials up her WASP or Paula her southern or Alton his nerd persona
In his travel shows he is beyond polite and respectful to the people he encounters. As I mentioned above, he saves his snark for the people that can handle it.
We have a cooking chanel called 24 Kitchen and they show Anthony’s travel programme all the time and I just love him. He seems very respectful and knowledgable. He also did a show in Croatia and everyone said he was very nice and proffesional.
And in that reality show he was on ( The Taste?) he was really nice to the contestants, which doesn’t happen often with judges on cooking competitions.
Never heard of the other guy.
I like them both and for different reasons. It is true that I haven’t seen Anthony cook anything ever…but I have seen him eat. I don’t see anything wrong with what Alton said at all.
I love bourdain.He can be an ahole, but He makes fun of himself too so it evens out. He visited Molokai and my relatives said he won over the locals- no small feat! He showed a lot of interest and respect to the native Hawaiian issues facing that island and filmed a segment that represented those challenges in a way that really endeared him to my family.
Plus, he wears jeans really well – he’s a cute, tall, lanky bastard!
I saw that show!!!! Wow, am amazed!
He was so funny at the end of the molokai segment when he was like, “bottom-line: don’t come here” and they all erupt in laughter.
Alton Brown is a snarky, arrogant bitch. I LOVE him!
I loved Good Eats because it was whimsical, funny and taught viewers about the science behind food and how to cook it properly. Now that Alton Brown has “gone over to the other side” and become nothing but a competitive cooking show host, he’s lost my respect. I refuse to watch cooking shows that are nothing but Colosseum blood-letting. Now Bourdain’s shows I watch religiously because they not only delve into regional cooking but explore the culture, history (often fraught with war, poverty and bloodshed) and people. All from a very respectful and kind viewpoint. THAT is what a decent show about food should be like, not some cheezball race to see which chef wannabe has a nervous breakdown or gets humiliated by some arrogant nob in front of millions of viewers.
I properly learned how to cook asparagus and tempura from Alton and that makes me a fan for life.
Alton, I don’t know or care about the last time Anthony Bourdain cooked something. But I do know the last time I could stand watching your affected, pseudo-superior presentation style, and that was never. I find you well meaning but just insufferable to watch: unwatchable. I find Anthony to be a giant brat, but relatable, interesting and utterly watchable. Shoo.
Lol. Yeah, you heard her! Shoo!
Anthony Bourdain is a chef and raconteur and good looking to boot. I like Alton Brown but he’s not a chef. Bourdain ran Les Halles for years working the line. Brown has some stupid show called Cuthroat Kitchen which really is one of the dumbest cooking shows ever. I love Bourdain. He’s an original.
Bourdain doesn’t pretend to be great in the kitchen. He did a show where he went back in the kitchen and admitted the needed skills had moved past him.
He’s not wrong about FN being a joke and yes, that includes Alton who chose to be more Bob Barker than Ina Garten.
I think what Alton said was OK. If Bourdain is smart enough, he’d take it in a good-natured way.
Team…both of them? Everything each of them said is completely correct. Alton Brown’s commentary is really informative, and one of the shows he’s involved with is (intentionally) cheesy. Anthony Bourdain is far more of a food writer and a media personality than a chef these days, but he’s damn good at it.
I like both of them but leaning slightly more to Alton because hell, I just admire the way he fires off rapid articulations on ingredients or a root vegetable in a way I just friggin can’t. And I am quite sure Anthony will bring his swag rebel ‘I din choose the thug life, the thug life chose me’ game but Alton will be the bitchier drag queen in his comebacks. What they are and what they have are their own strengths which I deeply respect. However, I find the criticism of Food Network sometimes a bit uppity, especially when Anthony appears to criticise it for the sake of it and because it’s just easy to. It’s as if he gives the vibe that the Food Network is beneath him whether or not he actually believes it or he is hamming it up to fit his media persona of a rebel against the mainstream. Note that I am aware he can be extremely respectful of people, food and cultures and does admire some “home cooks” like Ina and Nigella. It’s just that he (sometimes) gives off this vibe of let’s criticise the network cos it’s fun to do it and come on! a serious chef would never be on Food Network chasing grocery items to make into a dish – only amateurs and wannabes go on the Food Network!
As far as I know, it has never claimed to be an intellectual channel. It’s a mainstream channel for mass entertainment and making cooking a sport was quite innovative even if you don’t enjoy it or don’t care to admit it. It’s just pop music. You don’t listen to most of pop music to feed your brain and some shows are just blah. Sometimes, you just want to watch something mildly entertaining and engaging, and then zone out while eating some leftovers and laugh at the Chopped contestant who gives a ridiculous retort to an Iron Chef judge. Or squirm at Giada.
I still wouldn’t want to watch the Klan though and something something housewives of something. And some show obsessed with giving out roses. So yeah call me a commoner (or should I say civilian ala Matt Damon?) who watches the Food Network. I’ll own it lol.
The Food Network used to be a lot more oriented to actual cooking with chefs like Ming Tsai. Even Emeril, for all his schtick, is a legit cook. The shows now are very different (and stupid IMO).
I’ve been watching old Jacques Pepin and Julia Child episodes on the PBS website, very funny and entertaining but you actually learn how to cook.
I love Bourdain and his CNN show. Far more interesting to watch him travel through cities and talk to people than to watch someone cook a chicken. His shows are like travelogues -he always tells the truth-the music is great and you really get a feel for where he is. Great entertainment. I save them on my DVR.
Love Alton. He’s a fellow UGA grad. And I totally agree that Bourdain is a douche canoe. It’s fine that he’s a food snob and critic, but to belittle others because it’s not his taste…well, I’m unimpressed with you, sir and that’s my taste.
Bourdain is a chef with plenty of time in the kitchen. Just because he’s nit there now doesn’t negate past experience and I can’t blame him for jumping on the gig he’s got now. Chefs work loooong hours in a difficult job with little time for anything else.
Also, anyone who insults Guy Fieri – the actual douche-canoe – is alright by me.
This seems like a “what men do to each other” ribbing one another even if there is respect of their skills. A trait I still scratch my head over with man land. They’ve been on each others show so doubt there is a deep dislike.
Long time lurker, first time commenter: I absolutely adore Bourdain. He is bitchy and snobby, no question, but I have a great weakness for bitchy, snobby men. Mr. Cayenne-a and I are ripping through No Reservations – it’s absolutely addictive (and Bourdain cooks on this show, I might add! Not often, but he does.) He seems to have such a gift for putting people at ease, and he’s damn sexy too.
I’ll take Bourdain over Alton any time. Alton drives me crazy. Cannot stand him for the life of me.
Alton introduced me to one of my favorite lunches ever in his blogging. Sardines and avocados.
I’ve modified the recipe for me but it was his writing convinced me to try it. (boneless/skinless sardines and mashed avocado with fresh lemon and sea salt on fresh baguette or toasted naan bread is my favorite lunch ever. It takes me five minutes to throw together.)
Love Alton for this alone
Bourdain has a sexiness that comes from knowing about good food and being able to write about and enjoy it fully. I have no idea why I find him sexy, but I do.
I think this is being blown out of proportion by the media. Bourdain tweeted last night that he has no beef with Alton Brown, that he thinks he’s the smartest thing on Food Network and his daughter’s hero. Anthony is outspoken and I appreciate that he calls out most FN fare as the schlock that it is. He never singled out Alton specifically as far as I can tell. But truthfully, Alton deserves a little ridicule for what he’s become. The Food Network shows he’s on are not even about food anymore and if he wanted to, he could walk away and be successful in other arenas that were actually about food and not just reality TV garbage. So I can’t really get on Alton’s side in this media-created debate. I have much more respect for Anthony Bourdain who does things his own way and doesn’t pander.
First of all, let’s be serious, Bourdain is a seasoned executive chef and an Emmy-award winning documentary producer. He went to Vassar, so saying he’s a frat boy is utterly laughable. Vassar is a predominantly female college and is as cubby-wubby womb-room ovarian and PC as heck. He also went to lefty Northeastern private prep school (I should know as I graduated from the same school years later – he even did an episode where he visits our school and talks to teachers in the cafeteria… Eek!) which was/is as gentle and liberal as can be. I think his roughneck tattooed foul-mouthed schtick is a reaction to the people he grew up around and an homage the tough food-service industry folks he grew to love. It’s sort of cute and if he wasn’t married I totally WOULD. However, anyone who has seen Bourdain’s wife on the show knows who is in charge there (her bad-ass kick-boxing self) and it’s clear he absolutely adores her and their daughter, which is lovely and very humanizing after all his snark.
Second, I agree that I’m pretty sure these two are buds and like friends do, they occasionally give each other a little bit of a hard time. I don’t think there’s any real drama here. Bourdain’s show is a travelogue and not a food contest or how-to. Alton’s show (Good Eats, I don’t get into the cheesy contest thing) is a great resource for home cooks.
The only reason Alton got asked about Anthony is because his new series is starting up and some reporter was trying to generate some grist for the mill, and it worked, as here we all are!
Add me to the Bourdain lover list. LOVE his show on CNN. The first one I watched, on Haiti, blew me away and not one has been a disaapointment since.
The funniest Archer episode ever was Live and Let Dine. Archer’s crew takes on an undercover mission working as the wait and bus staff for a celebrity chef voiced by Bourdain. Pure genius.
I like both those guys. Very entertaining and informative (both the books and the tv shows)
Alton’s great. Bad Boy’s a little tired these days.
this is weird. I’m not a huge Bourdain fan but I know he goes on theater tours and cooks for the VIP tickets. Think a live and personal cooking show.