A Tribute to Anthony Bourdain

June 11, 2018

In light of the recent passing of the famous chef Anthony Bourdain, a fellow fan of unprocessed food-the-way-it-used-to-be, I thought it only appropriate to dedicate this week's newsletter to him and some of his best quotes:

- “Basic cooking skills are a virtue...the ability to feed yourself and a few others with proficiency should be taught to every young man and woman as a fundamental skill. [It’s] as vital to growing up as learning to wipe one’s own ass, cross the street by oneself, or be trusted with money.”

- "Good food is very often, even most often, simple food."

- “Meals make the society, hold the fabric together in lots of ways that were charming and interesting and intoxicating to me. The perfect meal, or the best meals, occur in a context that frequently has very little to do with the food itself.”

- "What I want to eat is home cooking, somebody’s — anybody’s — mother’s or grandmother’s food. A simple pasta pomodoro made with love, a clumsily thrown-together tuna casserole, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, all of this is pure exotica to me, even when I’ve been neck-deep all day in filet mignon and herb-infused oils.... My mother-in-law would always apologize before serving dinner when I was in attendance, saying, "This must seem pretty ordinary for a chef." She had no idea how magical, how reassuring, how pleasurable her simple meatloaf was for me, what a delight even lumpy mashed potatoes were — being, as they were, blessedly devoid of truffles or truffle oil.”

- “To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living."

- "Do we really want to travel in hermetically sealed Popemobiles through the rural provinces of France, Mexico and the Far East, eating only in Hard Rock Cafes and McDonald's? Or do we want to eat without fear, tearing into the local stew, the humble taqueria’s mystery meat, the sincerely offered gift of a lightly grilled fish head?"

And my fave, "An egg in anything makes it better."

Enjoy a meal with someone you love this week!