A crowd of hundreds crammed into a corner of the Michigan Avenue Borders bookstore recently, craning their necks to catch a glimpse of Anthony Bourdain, the chef/author/television host famous for his willingness to eat just about anything and skewer just about anyone.
The 49-year-old New Yorker celebrates hooves and snouts while he critiques culinary cultures with a bitter (if educated) tongue.
Before he signed copies of his new book, “The Nasty Bits” (Bloomsbury, $24.95), and described a recent meal of raw meat served by villagers in the Kalahari Desert, we sat down with Bourdain, host of the Travel Channel’s “No Reservations,” to talk turkey.
Q. What is the manliest thing to eat?
A. In Asia it’s food that is supposed to make you strong. But when a dish is served with a wink or a nudge in the ribs, it’s often something that is still alive. Or it’s penis. There is great irony there. In the States, it’s the classic guy meal: a 42-ounce porterhouse steak and a martini.
Q. How do you respond to those who say cooking is women’s work?
A. They’re not worth talking to. That is clearly someone who doesn’t know cooking or eating and is probably no good in the sack. But, then, there was a time when most talented male chefs said women have no place in the kitchen, and that’s an equally stupid point of view. Cooking is essentially feminine in nature. We all work wearing an apron and clogs, just as our mothers did. If there is too much testosterone in the kitchen, that is not a good thing.
Q. Your take on culinary Chicago?
A. You were right on with what was happening a few months ago; GQ labeled you an international culinary destination like Barcelona. But you’ve been emasculated by your aldermen; the foie gras ban is the [emasculation] of Chicago. The aldermen removed a principal color from the artists’–the chefs’–palette.