Taking on Anthony Bourdain
I should hate Anthony Bourdain. He hates me—or would, if I ever met him and the subject of my eating habits came up. In his book Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain writes that “Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, and an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food.” He also calls vegans a “Hezbollah-like splinter faction.”
So, yeah, we’re not exactly on the same wave-length when it comes to food, to put it mildly. Yet I still find myself somewhat amused by his persistent bad attitude, chain-smoking crankiness and penchant for oh-so-witty insults. (He once told a contestant on Bravo’s Top Chef that his lobster had “the consistency of doll head.”) Of course, this amusement is no doubt helped because I only see him occasionally on television. I’m sure continued exposure would wear away my amused tolerance quite quickly.
A new vegan blog has sprung up in response to Bourdain’s remarks about vegans: Hezbollah Tofu. Its purpose, besides snarking about Bourdain, is to veganize the very unvegan recipes from his Les Halles Cookbook, then sell the compiled recipes and donate the profits to vegan outreach organizations and farm sanctuaries in Bourdain’s name. They’ve already tackled some of the mainstays of French cooking, such as french onion soup and creme brulee. No starting out with the easy stuff!
