Outspoken celebrity chef and T.V. personality Anthony Bourdain was found dead in his hotel room in France on Friday June 8, his employer CNN confirmed.
Gathering fame after a notable memoir of life in the kitchen, the maverick presenter of CNN's Parts Unknown rarely held back on criticising those he disagreed with, from other known chefs to the president of the United States.
Bourdain was particularly loud in recent months against disgraced former film executive Harvey Weinstein. Bourdain's reported girlfriend, Italian actress Asia Argento, had accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting her.
The presenter also accused U.S. news outlets of ignoring stories about Weinstein, in October 2017 tweeting: "For decades major news outfits spiked, ignored reporting and in some cases, actively enabled Harvey Weinstein. A hard look back in is order."
Donald Trump
Bourdain rarely held back his dislike for President Donald Trump, at one point even suggesting there was a "nauseating symmetry" between Trump and Weinstein.
In an interview with Eater after Trump's election (in which the writer describes Bourdain as not a star of the food world, but a "nebula"), he said of Trump: "There's so many reasons to find the guy troubling."
"I'm a New Yorker, Donald Trump is a New Yorker. And the New Yorkers I know, we've lived with this guy for 30 years," Bourdain told the site. "I've seen Donald Trump say things one day, and then I saw what he did the next. I've seen up close how he does business."
There’s a nauseating symmetry: both Trump and Weinstein used AMI(Enquirer) and Black Cube (Israeli private Intel) to do their dirty work
— Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) May 6, 2018
Guy Fieri
While Bourdain frequented parts unknown, the spikey haired Guy Fieri made his T.V. name in the all-American eateries down your block. The two had notable fighting words for each other.
After once calling Fieri's restaurant in New York's Times Square the "terror dome" and saying he had "turned the neighborhood into the Ed Hardy district," Fieri said that he didn't like Bourdain "making fun of people," saying "he's definitely gotta have issues."
In an interview with Atlanta Magazine in 2015, Bourdain said "I wonder about him. He's 52 years-old and still rolling around in the flame outfit . . . What does he do? How does Guy Fieri de-douche?"
Paula Deen
Bourdain was characteristically cutting in his remarks about belle-of-the-Southern-kitchen, Paula Deen, at one point calling her "the worst, most dangerous person to America." After Deen came out about her diabetes diagnosis, Bourdain told Eater: "When your signature dish is hamburger in between a doughnut, and you've been cheerfully selling this stuff knowing all along that you've got Type 2 Diabetes... It's in bad taste if nothing else."
Deen fired back with a statement to Page Six in which she not-so-cryptically called Bourdain a snob. "You know, not everybody can afford to pay $58 for prime rib or $650 for a bottle of wine," Deen said, "My friends and I cook for regular families who worry about feeding their kids and paying the bills."
Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sell crutches later.
— Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) January 17, 2012
In what was thought to be a dig at Deen promoting a diabetes drug, Bourdain at one point tweeted ""Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sell crutches later."
Rachael Ray
Bourdain similarly went after Rachael Ray for promoting unhealthy food. According to Delish, Bourdain described the "hugely influential" Ray endorsing Dunkin' Donuts as "like endorising crack for kids." He had previously said that the takeaway from Ray saying it was OK for people to buy pre-copped onion was "I could cook, but [instead] I'll finish this bag of Cheetos and that gallon of Diet Pepsi before dying of diabetes."
According to E! News, Bourdain also said of Ray "We know she can't cook. She shrewdly tells us so. So, what is she selling us? Really? She's selling us satisfaction, the smug reassurance that mediocrity is quite enough."
And the one that wasn't... Alton Brown
Though Bourdain might have had words for many of the Food Network's stars, a possible feud with Alton Brown fizzled out quickly. Bourdain may have been ready with criticism but he also seemed similarly ready with praise. "I have zero beef with @altonbrown," Bourdain wrote on Twitter, "Smartest stuff on FN and a hero to my daughter."
I have zero beef with @altonbrown . Smartest stuff on FN and a hero to my daughter
— Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) August 12, 2015
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Uncommon Knowledge
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