Anthony Bourdain: "Alice Waters Annoys the Living [Expletive] Out of Me."

January 26, 2009 RSS Feed Print

No Reservations host Anthony Bourdain has a bone to pick with Chez Panisse chef Alice Waters. Though Bourdain has stated in the past that he cooks organic food for his family, it seems that Alice Waters' philosophy is, to him, unrealistic in our current economic climate.

In an interview with DCist, Bourdain said:

"Alice Waters annoys the living [expletive] 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 mean I'm not crazy about our obsession with corn or ethanol and all that, but I'm a little uncomfortable with legislating good eating habits. I'm suspicious of orthodoxy, the kind of orthodoxy when it comes to what you put in your mouth. I'm a little reluctant to admit that maybe Americans are too stupid to figure out that the food we're eating is killing us. But I don't know if it's time to send out special squads to close all the McDonald's. My libertarian side is at odds with my revulsion at what we as a country have done to ourselves physically with what we've chosen to eat and our fast food culture. I'm really divided on that issue."

He later backtracked, saying, "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."

Do you agree with Bourdain?

More: Make Your Food More Eco-Friendly

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I work at Chez Panisse, in pastry sifting through oranges and strawberries. The less perfect specimens are used in purees for sherbets etc. We don't waste, i can assure you of that and hungryton is obviously some kind of hater.

pastrygurl of CA 1:22AM October 26, 2010

I have pretty much stopped watching Bordain's Travel Channel show because he seems only interested in eating food that makes me gag. Has he had a meal this year that did NOT feature bone marrow? He must be keeping the statin pharmo industry in business by himself -- or he has a week to live! So give the sometimes politically incorrect but at least well-maining good food icon Alica Waters a break!

Ritxard of HI 4:38PM June 16, 2010

I think Anthony Bourdain is spot on. The city of Berkeley worships Alice Waters. Alice Waters is just another Berkeley limousine liberal who's never had to struggle a day in her life that takes the elitist attitude that the world would be a better place if everyone just believed like she does. If she was serious about her beliefs she would open a restaurant in West Oakland, or by the Oakland Coliseum. I highly doubt she's been to either of those places in her life. If she had, she would know that there are NO grocery stores of any kind there, let alone an organic one. People in those areas have bigger concerns than 'where do I buy Organic?' These concerns include "where can I even get food?," "How am I going to cloth my child?," and "Which way should I walk to public transportation in order to avoid being shot?" Alice Waters has no concept of what real life is and this is clearly the reason for her attitudes.

GFM of CA 2:58PM February 04, 2010

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Maura Judkis is a producer at U.S. News. She writes about the green movement and looks for ways to be an ecofriendly consumer without breaking the bank. Send her your green tips.

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