Anthony Michael Bourdain burst onto the culinary culture scene with a bang with his 2000 New
York Times bestseller Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly and
he’s been a staple in the hearts and minds of amateur chefs ever since. Never one to
bite his tongue, he quickly parlayed his celebrity status into a food & world-travel television
series A Cooks Tour and from then on, he’s been a cultural staple
commenting on everything from the comestible like Korean fried chicken, to the hard to
digest, like #MeToo. His silver tongue has been known to prick more than just the food
industry enthusiast and insider. Bourdain does not eat his words; he is outspoken, upfront
and unafraid to let those he thinks are in the wrong, feel the burn. So we’ve got for
you a list of the Top Ten Times Anthony Bourdain Insulted a Celebrity.
Anthony Bourdain and Ina Garten
Ina Rosenberg Garten started her career at the White House Office of Management and Budget,
but having friends like Eli Zabar and Martha Stewart helped her radically change directions.
In 1978, an ad in the local paper advertising a 400 square foot specialty food store changed
her life. She quit her government job and bought the place. What followed was a series
of successes from store expansion to book sales, to appearances on Martha Stewart's
television show, all of which culminated into her very own Food Network series Barefoot
Contessa. When asked about his Food Network compatriot, Mr. Bourdain told interviewers
she was very bizarre, he’s quoted as saying, “I don’t want to stay at her house. I
think her friends are creepy. I don’t want to spend a weekend there, it gets weird in
Ina Land.” And when he was asked to describe the writing method behind his second book
Appetites: A Cook Book he said, "I morphed into a psychotic, anally retentive, bad-tempered
Ina Garten." We aren’t quite sure what that means, but it can’t be a good thing. In
the end, Bourdain and Garten eventually buried the hatchet. When asked by Refinery 29 what
he thought of the author and host, he said, “I’ll make a little fun of her now and
then, it’s very perfect in Ina World, scarily so”. But then added, “what she cooks on
TV is legit and instructive. If you do as Ina does, chances are you are going to get
a good product...I got real respect for her.” He told Atlanta magazine: “When Ina Garten
roasts a chicken, she roasts it correct. When Ina Garten makes mashed potatoes, those are
some solid mashed potatoes,”. He is quoted as saying she is one of the only people on
the food network who can actually cook. Though this statement doesn’t say much for the
Food Network, it is the highest of compliments coming from the harshest of critics. The relationship
between Ina Garten and Anthony Bourdain may have gotten off to a rocky start, but it would
seem the two have made amends and will develop good relations in the future…
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Bourdain vs Adam Richman
Between 2008 and 2012, the Travel Channel’s Man vs Food was a ratings juggernaut that
turned a then little-known actor and author by the name of Adam Richman into a minor celebrity.
The concept was basic, Richman discovers the local foods in different cities across America,
all while visiting local landmarks, and to top it off, he’d enter some kind of food
competition where he’d compete to eat the most “whatever” in as little time as possible.
His celebrity status soon got him in the cross-hairs of Anthony Bourdain who made minced meat of
Richman and Man vs Food, in his stand-up routine. “Why did we watch the show? Admit it, you
wanted him to die.” Harsh words right? Well, Bourdain was unafraid to up the ante. He then
claims the show is popular in Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya and Iran, stating, "The show
confirms their worst suspicions -- that Americans are fat, lazy, slothful [and] wasteful." And
imagining a goat herder in Afghanistan, he said: "I know what he's thinking, 'America
is a terrible place. I want to join ISIS. … Tomorrow, I bomb it”. Yikes. Richman
tried to take it all in stride though. He claimed in an interview with OBSERVER.COM
that, “Tony is actually a friend of mine and I talked to him about it. I was like ‘You
threw me under the bus.’ I understand the need for a good line but I hope that his want
of a good friend is greater than that, and he made it clear that it was.”
Anthony Bourdain Against The Food Network
Though The Food Network is arguably what introduced the wider world to Bourdain, Anthony has,
in the years since the debut of his first hit television series A Cook’s Tour, shown
signs of having very little love for the brand and its members. Bourdain claims that in 2007,
the network took a “ calculated break with the idea of the celebrity chef as a seasoned
professional and a move toward an entirely new definition: a personality with a sauté
pan." Bourdain was not through panning the network for it’s lack of substance and pandering
to celebrity culture, in fact, that was just the beginning. He defines the network as a
programming outrage and defines its modern lineup as a sad and pandering example of rehashed
leftovers, “the humiliating, painful-to-watch Food Network Awards, the clumsily rigged-looking
Next Food Network Star, the cheesily cheap-jack production values of Next Iron Chef America
— every obviously, half-assed knock-off they slapped on the air would go on to ring
up sky-high ratings and an ever-larger audience of cherished males twenty-two to thirty-six
(or whatever that prime car-buying demographic is).” It would seem Bourdain is just as
disappointed in a network that would choose to invest in these retreads as he is in a
world that would elevate such malarkey to a successful status. He’s said, "The eye-searing
'Kwanzaa Cake' clip on YouTube, of Sandra Lee doing things with store-bought angel food
cake, canned frosting, and corn nuts, instead of simply being the unintentionally hilarious
viral video it should be, makes me mad for all humanity. I. Just. Can’t. Help. It."
And just to make it clear that the Network puts no value in its own representation, Bourdain
had this to say about the Food Network Awards: “The production itself — above and beyond
the witless, ill-considered, just-plain stupid 'concept' of an Awards show where most of
the awards' went to the inanimate objects (accepting the award for Best Comfort Food
is ... Macaroni and Cheese!!), appliances or cities (Portland's mayor wisely did not
bother to show), — the production values — were lower than whale shit.” And that
dear friends, is how you burn a food network.
Bourdain and Alice Waters
Alice Waters is a chef, activist and author who’s hard work is helping to bring the
United States towards a healthy, fresh, non-industrial, and self-sustained, small-scale vision of
food and farming. Her stance against the fast-food nation and cooky cutter tv-dinners has been
commended by the likes of the Obamas. And her attempts, which began in 1996, at reforming
American lunches in schools across the nation, along with her battle against the USDA’s
corporate squelching of all things healthy, in service of private bottom lines are on-going
to this day. Her accomplishments are myriad and her influence on America is evidenced
in our relationship with food to this very day, so it came as a disappointment to many
fans when Anthony Bourdain decided to take the public cleaver to her in stating: “Alice
Waters annoys the living sh*t out of me. We’re all in the middle of a recession, like we’re
all going to start buying expensive organic food and running to the green market. There’s
something very Khmer Rouge about Alice Waters that has become unrealistic ... I’m suspicious
of orthodoxy, the kind of orthodoxy when it comes to what you put in your mouth.” It
was a disappointment, but it was no surprise. Now whether it was the sense of an ensuing
public backlash, or actual remorse from having pointed his critical finger in an undeserving
direction, Bourdain did try to explain a little further in what many consider the closest
thing to a backpedal we’re likely to ever see from him: “I don’t have any burning
issue with Alice Waters, a restauranteur and visionary whose accomplishments clearly dwarf
my own. In a perfect, candy-colored world, I’d like to eat most of what she’d like
to see us eat. I feed my daughter mostly organic food whenever possible. My thoughts were a
heartfelt reaction to her wildly hubristic letter to the (then) president-elect, a document
whose tone, timing and content I found distasteful—particularly coming from someone who hadn’t even bothered
to vote in the four previous elections. (...) Chez Panisse was inarguably a cradle of the food
revolution. I respect Alice Waters’ enormous contribution to changing the way we eat and
cook today. No one can take that away from her. No one should try.” But fear not Bourdain
purists, because if that felt a bit too close to an apology, he offered a follow-up comment
to wash down the taste of such a glowing eulogy: “She says some stupid shit sometimes—and
she is certainly free to call “bullshit” on me when I do the same.” So there you
have it. Kind words, with a soupcon of bite...
Anthony Bourdain and Wolfgang Puck
Wolfgang Puck has been present in the hearts and minds of Hollywood, the glitterati, and
their legions of followers since the early 1980’s. One could argue that as a spiritual
descendant of Julia Child, who first put cooking in the minds of every house of America, Puck
is the man most responsible for ushering in the modern era of the celebrity chef. In fact,
some might say he’s the “original” celebrity chef. Bourdain, however, though a child of
history, is more known for being a stubborn child, than a reverent one. Bourdain told
Playboy magazine: "Listen, I’m not eating in his shitty pizza restaurants. I think it’s
bullshit, and it breaks my heart to see him on QVC or whatever, but the fact is he paid
his dues. He’s an important guy. It’s an Orson Welles thing: He made Citizen Kane,
so it doesn’t matter what he does after that." Upon hearing this Puck replied: “But,
does he have a successful restaurant?” And there you have it, two masters in their respective
fields, observing each other from a distance with respect, while both disappointed in the
others ultimate accomplishments.
Bourdain vs Guy Fieri
We all know Guy Fieri as a loudmouth, frosted tip, All-American badass, with a round belly,
loud clothes and a goatee, so it’s therefore of no shock to anybody that a guy like Guy
might rub Anthony Bourdain the wrong way. In 2015 Bourdain said "I sort of feel in a
heartfelt way for Guy. I wonder about him. He's 52 years old and still rolling around
in the flame outfit...What does he do? How does Guy Fieri de-douche?" But it’s apparently
all Love from Bourdain’s perspective, "I have no hate in my heart for the guy. He doesn't
make me angry. He's just low-hanging fruit. He's a rich and deep source of comedy." If
one squints a little, with words like deep and rich, this could almost be seen as a compliment.
When Fieri opened his American Kitchen and Bar in Times Square, Bourdain told interviewers
“he single-handedly turned the neighborhood into the Ed Hardy district which I'm a little
pissed off about." The two have yet to host a Food Network awards show together.
Bourdain and The Left (Especially Bill Maher)
Having elevated his status from that of a chef to that of a public persona, Bourdain’s
disdain occasionally reaches far beyond the realm of sustenance and it’s connoisseurs.
When Trump was elected he blamed the very people he considers his peers. He once told
Reason: “The utter contempt with which privileged Eastern liberals such as myself discuss red-state,
gun- country, working-class America as ridiculous and morons and rubes is largely responsible
for the upswell of rage and contempt and desire to pull down the temple that we’re seeing
now," He then singled out Bill Maher as "the worst of the smug, self-congratulatory left.
He’s a classic example of the smirking, contemptuous, privileged guy who lives in
a bubble. And he is in no way looking to reach outside, or even look outside, of that bubble,
in an empathetic way.” “preaching to the converted, (...) doesn’t change anyone’s
opinions. It only solidifies them, and makes things worse for all of us,” Say what you
want about Bourdain, but one thing is certain, the man knows how to tend an olive branch:
and that’s with a twist.
Anthony Bourdain and Paula Deen
The feud between Anthony Bourdain and Paula Deen is now legendary and extremely well known.
Many pinpoint it’s beginning to the time he told TV Guide that "She revels in unholy
connections with evil corporations and she's proud of the fact that her food is ... bad
for you. ... Plus, her food sucks." He’s once called her "the worst, most dangerous
person to America," and he’s even gone as far as saying she was “proud of the fact
that her food is f---ing bad for you." After Deen revealed she had type 2 diabetes, Bourdain
took to Twitter to say, "Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably
sell crutches later. Bourdain claims Deen’s brand is “excess without guilt” and for
her to “turn around and roll out a $500 diabetes treatment” after basically endorsing
a lifestyle that would worsen these peoples’ conditions is “in excruciatingly bad taste,
it’s unconscionable, cynical, and greedy... 30 million dollars a year, how much money
do you need?” To this day, these two have yet to send each other birthday cards.
Bourdain and Alec Baldwin
Feeling confident in his position as a cultural announcer and spokesperson of modern thought,
Bourdain even let fellow leftist artist Alec Baldwin get a taste of his patented brand
zing. When asked what advice he would give Alec Baldwin about his stance on the “#MeToo”
movement, he told the Daily Beast, he would tell the famed actor to “Just Shut up”.
He later tweeted Baldwin saying “You really are too dumb to pour piss out of a boot”
and accused Baldwin further saying he was either a “complete moron or providing cover
for your pals and saving your own rep. Maybe all three.” Considering it was Baldwin’s
silence after hearing allegations of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct with Charmed
star Rose McGowan, one might think that perhaps people shutting up, is what leads to this
mess in the first place. After all, it was the little known Reverend Charles F. Aked
who once said, “For evil men to accomplish their purpose, it is only necessary that good
men do nothing”.
Anthony Bourdain and Donald Trump
When asked by the brilliant minds behind TMZ what Bourdain would serve if he was catering
a summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un, Bourdain answered, “Hemlock” which is a poison
once used as an execution method. As host of a food and travel show, Bourdain has seen
a lot of countries, and as a local New Yorker, he has seen a lot of Trump, and his opinion
of the commander in chief is informed by these two divergent sides of himself. He feels that
to Trump “Nobody that isn’t male, white and wealthy counts. We’re just hearing what
he thinks. But it’s the astonishing lack of curiosity, the astonishing laziness. I
have to travel this world where everybody is laughing at us. It’s one thing to be
hated, it’s another thing to be feared, but to be ridiculed, everywhere, and treated
as pathetic?” But the insults don’t stop there, “He has no interest in talking to
anybody, he talks about himself and that is the only subject which is of any interest
to him. It’s a level of discourse so sub-moronic that it was unthinkable at any other point
in my life. You know he hasn’t eaten at a single restaurant in Washington DC other
than at a steakhouse in his own hotel since he took the Presidency? Just what he eats
is already damning.” He’s told interviewers, “I find him personally objectionable.”
In case you were wondering if these opinions are simply made up to fit a leftist agenda,
here’s what Bourdain had to say, “I’m a New Yorker, Donald Trump is a New Yorker.
And the New Yorkers I know, we’ve lived with this guy for 30 years. I’ve seen Donald
Trump say things one day, and then I saw what he did the next. I’ve seen up close how
he does business. Just like if you lived in a small town, you’d get to know the sheriff,
the guy who runs the hardware store, the guy who runs the filling station — Trump comes
from that era of guys you followed, guys you knew about every day: Trump, Giuliani, Al
Sharpton. I’d see him at Studio 54, for F-sake. I’m not saying I know the guy personally,
not like I’d hug him, but I’m saying that as a New Yorker, we pretty much are neighbors.
And my many years of living in his orbit have not left me with a favorable impression, let’s
put it that way. There are so many reasons to find the guy troubling. When Scott Baio’s
the only guy you can find to show up at your convention, you’re in trouble. And in another
interview, he finished that thought perfectly, “he eats his steak well done. I think that
really settles it." And yes, it does seem that a well-done steak with a side of ketchup
is Trump’s favorite meal.
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