What's Eating Anthony Bourdain?

Apparently, it's Alice Waters.

In November, 2008 following the presidential election, Alice wrote an open letter to President Obama, urging that the new White House Chef be " A person with integrity and devotion to the ideals of environmentalism, health, and conservation would send a powerful message to our country: that food choices matter."

In a Janurary 19th interview with DC List, Bourdain reacted:

"I'll tell you. Alice Waters annoys the living sh*t out of me. We're all in the middle of a recession, like we're all going to start buying expensive organic food and running to the green market. There's something very Khmer Rouge about Alice Waters that has become unrealistic. I mean I'm not crazy about our obsession with corn or ethanol and all that, but I'm a little uncomfortable with legislating good eating habits. I'm suspicious of orthodoxy, the kind of orthodoxy when it comes to what you put in your mouth. I'm a little reluctant to admit that maybe Americans are too stupid to figure out that the food we're eating is killing us. But I don't know if it's time to send out special squads to close all the McDonald's. My libertarian side is at odds with my revulsion at what we as a country have done to ourselves physically with what we've chosen to eat and our fast food culture. I'm really divided on that issue. It'd be great if he [Obama] served better food at the White House than what I suspect the Bushies were serving. It's gotta be better than Nixon. He liked starting up a roaring fire, turning up the air conditioning, and eating a bowl of cottage cheese with ketchup. Anything above that is a good thing. He's from Chicago, so he knows what good food is."

Looks like the pot is being stirred for an interesting evening!Anthony Bourdain and Alice Waters, along with Duff Goldman will be appearing at The Connecticut Forum's Food for Thought on May 14, 2009.