Anthony Bourdain Had A Big Problem With American Chicken

Anthony Bourdain's all-time favorite dishes in the world are tell-tale signs that the norms of American culinary traditions couldn't compete for this world-renowned chef's standard. While the chef and TV host's love for well-cooked food took him around the world, some of his greatest insights came from working within restaurant kitchens across the nation. According to Bourdain, chicken doesn't deserve the star spot within American culinary practices, even if it has become an American culinary staple. In his 1999 essay for The New Yorker, "Don't Eat Before Reading This," he let loose his grievances with American chicken.

Bourdain didn't shy away from criticism when food didn't impress him, and for the New York City born chef, the chicken found in American supermarket aisles was simply "slimy and tasteless." In his essay, he expressed that "chicken — America's favorite food — goes bad quickly; handled carelessly, it infects other foods with salmonella; and it bores the hell out of chefs." He also preferred the versatility of other meats, like pork, since chicken "always tastes like chicken." Despite finding a place on most menus in restaurants in the United States, Bourdain compared American chicken to chicken found in Europe, where he explained the foreign chicken was noticeably better quality. Bourdain's warnings and disregard for ordering chicken Caesar salad start to make a little more sense.

The late food writer and chef didn't just compare the quality of chicken in the United States to other regions of the world, but he also compared the mindset around food. For Anthony Bourdain, food waste in the U.S. wasn't taken as seriously as it was internationally, which resulted in mindless consumption and lack of awareness and creativity with food.

In an interview with NPR about "Wasted! The Story of Food Waste," a documentary which was executive produced by Bourdain, the renowned chef shared that a good approach to tackling food waste in America would be to consider "all of the parts of proteins and vegetables that we don't currently use, that are in fact quite delicious — in many cases more delicious than the things we attach artificial value to." Throughout his career, Bourdain advocated for making delicious dishes out of all parts of the slaughtered animal rather than selecting which body parts were favorable.

Bourdain's career combining unforgettable trips with tasty meals in new places might be one of the reasons why the chef wasn't completely bowled over by American food (unless he made an exception for his favorite fried chicken spot in the U.S.). The chef believed in the power of experiencing different cultures and culinary practices, even going as far as to assert that "travel changes people for the better," in an interview with Jason Cochran. For Bourdain, Americans (and everyone) would live and eat better if they got curious about other cultures and their mealtime practices: "It's unimaginable to me that people wouldn't yearn for a peek at the other side of the world, an undiscovered beach, a tiny little food stall that serves the perfect bowl of noodles."