Vancouver Sun: The Nasty Chef
Guess who’s stirring up trouble north of the border?
Everyone’s favorite bad boy chef, Anthony Bourdain. And while in town promoting his new book, The Nasty Bits, Vancouver Sun reporter Mia Stainsby got the wild child of the culinary world to sit still long enough for an interview.
Never one to mince words, Bourdain was his usual self. But would one expect anything less?
On his current role as a food celebrity:
“Listen, compared to standing in a hot kitchen making brunch with no hope or pride or expectation that it will ever get better, I have nothing to complain about. I’ll endure this with pleasure. I have the best job in the world and if there’s any justice in the world, I’d get down on my knees in thanks for letting me get away with this.”
On the organic food movement:
“There are a lot of hungry people in this world. I like organic but there’s no way to make enough of it in the world. I love wild salmon but we need aquaculture. It’s like nuclear power — it’s out there. I suggest spending a week in India or Africa. We are privileged to be having this conversation or even talking about these issues. There, it’s a matter of needing chicken for the family. Now! Those are more important issues for tens of millions of people around the world.
On his past drug addictions:
“I wanted to be a heroin addict, admired heroin addicts and was in thrall of the junky mystique — Charlie Parker, William S. Burroughs, Rimbaud. It wasn’t the wisest thing. A lot of insecure kids define themselves by the drugs they take. It makes them artistic and cool.”
Vancouver Sun: The Bad Boy of the Culinary World
Bourdain should do a bit more background research on hunger before his next interview. People generally don’t go hungry because of low food production yields. Instead, they don’t get enough to eat because of a combination of war, poverty, lack of education, poor land management or government policy (e.g., corrupt officials squandering funds allocated for crop irrigation projects), to name a few problems. Look at the U.S., for example. The U.S. food industry produces huge surpluses of grain, meat, milk and other crops, but millions are still hungry. Other nations with large food export programs also have numerous hungry people within their borders. Food First’s 12 Myths about Hunger is a good place to gain understanding of the issues ( http://www.foodfirst.org/12myths ). (they should probably remove Zimbawae as a positive example, however)
As to the potential of organic agriculture, World Watch Institute has a new study which finds that organic agriculture can increase yields in poorer nations. ( http://www.worldwatch.org/node/3918 )