What Anthony Bourdain had to say about Veganism.
Some friends of friends who happen to be vegan have been sharing his quote on veganism, today. Here’s my thoughts on that…as a vegan and a Bourdain fan.
I appreciated Anthony Bourdain (here’s my dedication to him today) and mourn the passing of his fierce heart…but eulogies must be genuine, not fake. Life is too full of fake, and he was never fake. So here’s a little truth, offered up on a plate.
He had Veganism all wrong.
From my friend, Ryan, after seeing my:
The last photograph of Anthony Bourdain on his twitter account captures this moment in all its gaddamned sadness.
Ryan: some vegan friends also posted this…not sure how true or if he was serious when he said it.
“Anthony Bourdain on vegetarians and vegans:
“Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter-faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food.
The body, these waterheads imagine, is a temple that should not be polluted by animal protein. It’s healthier, they insist, though every vegetarian waiter I’ve worked with is brought down by any rumor of a cold.
Oh, I’ll accommodate them, I’ll rummage around for something to feed them, for a ‘vegetarian plate’, if called on to do so. Fourteen dollars for a few slices of grilled eggplant and zucchini suits my food cost fine.””
Me: he definitely said that 
he was a bad boy, always liked to say whatever he wanted
Ryan: I think he was just being crusty anthony
Me: vegans aren’t arguing that meat doesn’t taste good
humans might taste good
Ryan: true
Me: we’re arguing that killing is sad and unnecessary.
~
We’re on the same page here. Enjoy the real thing. Skip the chain. High or low fancy or simple—doesn’t matter. What matters is genuine.
“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 McDonalds? 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? I know what I want. I want it all. I want to try everything once.” ~ Kitchen Confidential
He loved sending up all uptightness, including his own.:
“Vegans are disgusting and loathsome. I’m often asked why vegans are the enemy of everything good and decent and must be hunted down and destroyed so their genes don’t pass onto future generations. It’s because if you can’t enjoy even a nice, stinky, runny, ripe cheese like this you may as well kill yourself now.”
~
Vaguely relephant bonus.
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