Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

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in the words of rodney king -- "can't we all just get along?"

anthony bourdain is snarky, and talks about his preconceived notions of each place in the beginning of each episode, and then generally through the arc of the show he realizes the beauty and uniqueness of each place. he does this in nearly every show. including the one about new jersey. and iraq. and california. that's pretty much the point of the show. it would be a lot more boring otherwise.

how this turned into a northern vs. southern thing is ridiculous.

and PS -- there is more in the north than just new york. it's funny when people are saying how ignorant people are about the south, and then act equally ignorant about the north.

I watched the whole episode, while it's definitely not one of the better episodes of the show, its not really what you thought it was. It was actually a rather perplexing episode, and I'm not sure what the premise of it was.

I guess having Alice Cooper in the show as an amusing touch, but why would you go to his theme restaurant when there's so much more that the region must have to offer.

Nonetheless, the episode wasn't pandering OR offensive, just...meandering.

And I admit, I'm a Bourdain fan, but I think I can admit when his shtick gets old and cheesy. Refreshingly, however, he seems to be getting better with age, time, and experience (and parenthood?) and speaks and acts with a lot more humility and isn't as quick to drop a scalding quip as he used to be.

If anything, more recent episode of No Reservations seem to be even more intelligent than earlier ones, and definitely a step up from A Cook's Tour (which I liked by the way).

Regardless of sociopolitical issues, the culinary history of the American South is the culinary history of America. Take away the South and you take away the nation's gastronomic Genesis. I think Tony is aware of this - his comments were born quite possibly from ignorance. The media and Hollywood have gone out of their way to portray the South as backwoods - without sufficient time spent in the South one would not know the beauty that accompanies our flaws. For instance, Southern schools were integrated during the 50's and 60's. Boston's school system remained segregated until 1971.

You know everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.
Will Rogers

Risa, Tony's a Jersey boy. It's a fine point but an important point.

@onepercent99 - God Bless your little pea-pickin' heart! Exactly what I was thinking.

@ aungeinphx:

i think the "the big unit" is more homage to randy johnson and his stint with d-backs than to an actual big unit.

I love Mr. Bourdain and am always charmed by the lovely things he has to say about every climate, culture and cuisine he finds in his world travels.
So why is he hatin' on the South? That's just rude Yankee behavior.
--Hollene in TX

I know I'm late on this post but I saw the episode in question and I only have 4 words to say:

"Gabba Gabba Hey Tony!"

I couldn't stop cracking up...

Chicken fried steak with white gravy and.........FIGS!!!!

(All Paula Deen free)

As much as New Yorkers curl their lip at the South, the South returns the favor. Compared to the civilized South, NYers often present as loud, obnoxious, thoughtless, rude and selfish. One once told me on a bus transfer at a large airport in Texas that he had never seen a man give up a seat to a woman like the gentleman across from us did. Even though she was in an advanced state of pregnancy, it never crossed his mind to offer her his seat. I hope it will in the future if it ever happens again.

@dianah, I'm with you on not being part of the fandom, but I think I know what at least part of it it -- he's a "bad boy." People say that they like him because he speaks his mind, he doesn't hold back, etc. There's a certain appeal for that sort of rebel/whistleblower personality. Some people admire that he says nasty things about other people, and he can get away with it, where with someone else it would just seem rude or petty or bad-mannered. He can do it in a way that says, "I'm just a little guy battling the odds and telling you about injustices that the big guys are perpetrating on the innocent people..." Not that those are his words, but that's the way he comes off. He's kind of an underdog/rebel. You shouldn't like him, but you do,

What's funny about that (to me, at least) is that on one hand he disdains people who are all "fake" on TV and they say they like things, blah blah blah, but then he admitted that when he's off somewhere eating elelphant earlobes or whatever, he has to smile for the camera and say that it's good. "I thought this would be terrible, but it's actually good. Really, really good." And then later he's in the hotel barfing it up. So he's not telling it like it is, either. He's smiling for the camera and taking direction from the producers, just like everyone else.

He's also a little bit like the schoolyard bully who gets to decide who to pick on. He mocks the TV chefs, picks on the way they do their shows, what they cook. Then he mocks the ones who don't cook but do other types of shows. He mocks the ones who have restaurants. And something inside all of us feels like we have to take his side because if we don't, we could be his next target. Not that it's possible, but it's a human reaction. He's the strong guy, no one else seems to be taking him on, and so we want to be on his team.

Funny thing is that when he actually meets one of these people he made fun of (Emeril, for example) all of a sudden he learns that this person is actually a nice guy. Or he ate at one of Bobby Flay's restaurants, and the food was good. Or, wait...was that just fake for the camera too?

And as much as he's mocking the TV chefs and celebrity chefs, he's not one of them. He's throwing rocks from the outside. Yes, he used to be a chef, but even he admits that its been a lot of years. He wrote a book, and that's really where he got his fame. The restaurant went on without him. Now he's doing a travel-and-taste show. If a person didn't know his history, (or listen to the intro on No Reservations) you'd have no idea if he ever cooked or not.

I don't hate him, I don't dislike him. I watch his show once in a while, and it's fine for what it is. When he gets to mocking other cooks and chefs, though, I want to ask him to put his own product on the table and see if he can compete instead of just critique.

I'm sorry, I just don't get this thing people have for Bourdain. It feels creepy to me, this gushing over him. He's just another opinionated guy with enough smarts to put it together in an interesting way. His show is fine, for what it is, I'm not saying he doesn't have a valid point of view, or that he isn't good at what he does. It's okay. It's just this slavering fandom thing is odd. What gives?