I can sum up the major themes of all of my columns from the past year in one sentence: I have a spontaneous peanut allergy, I am very annoyed by Rachael Freaking Ray and Alice Waters, and Anthony Bourdain is my walking Buddha. I was fortunate enough to sit down with Tony (I have permission to call him by his first name -- it's on tape) before he gave a lecture entitled "How to stop worrying and enjoy globalization" on April 2. Globalization was the farthest thing from my mind, but the worrying part definitely rang a bell. What the heck was I going to say to a man whose books I have read and re-read countless times? It's not like I can swap stories with him about trekking through Vietnam or the best place to eat sheep testicle in Morocco. I decided to talk to Tony about several issues that are important to me, minus the peanuts, to get his perspective on food in America:
Caryn Horowitz: Both Michael Pollan and Gary Hirshberg, the CEO of Stonyfield Farm, have spoken at Tufts in the past month. They talked about sustainable foods and the problems with big agribusiness in the country. They were both featured in a recent New York Times article "Is a Food Revolution Now in Season?" Do you think there is a food revolution in America right now with the organic foods movement?
Anthony Bourdain: If there is a food revolution unfortunately the winners ... will be Popeyes Fried Chicken and Whole Foods. I appreciate what Michael Pollan writes about, and of course he's right -- I would like to see a world much like the world he aspires to. I think there is a real danger, and the charge of elitism is well-founded. I don't, for instance, think that if you are going to have a standard-bearer for this food revolution [that] Alice Waters is the appropriate face ... It's one thing to present options, to show people that there's another way, to seduce people to the luxury of a well-grown organic carrot or a humanely, deliciously braised animal. I think those are really valuable, wonderful things that the world of food has opened itself up to -- to embrace that ethic, that people are aware of those issues, that people want them, that people can afford them ... But when I hear the words 'should' and 'must,' I'm offended ... I think it's a matter of tenor, tone and timing. I think that's been handled really badly. I think unfortunately the end result so far is that we've created a desire -- a market -- for organic, a value added as a luxury item. People are willing, and they feel they should pay -- much like Starbucks taught us that you should pay $5 for a cup of ... coffee -- you should pay $4 for a lime.
CH: Then how do you feel about Michelle Obama's organic vegetable garden in the White House?
AB: It's wonderful, great. I think it sends a good message. I'm all for people growing their own vegetables. I'm for all of these things; but watching Alice Waters tell us that people in Minnesota should eat like Russian peasants in the winter, that they'll be fine with turnips and potatoes and cabbage, strikes me as somebody who's clearly never been to rural Russia, as I have. [During a March 15 "60 Minutes" interview with Lesley Stahl] to hear Alice Waters say, in response to questions about what should the working poor do, maybe they should do without a second pair of Nikes and more cell phone minutes. Meanwhile, she's cooking two eggs with Lesley Stahl in a house with firewood and bragging about vegetables that were in fact trucked in from eight hours away in San Diego. It hurts the cause.
CH: In that same "60 Minutes" interview, Alice Waters also talked about her "edible education" ideas and how there needs to be reform in the lunchroom with what kids are taught to eat. Do you agree with that?
AB: She's right. What we feed children in this country is grotesque. Type II diabetes, the explosion of diabetes in kids, it speaks for itself. It's borderline criminal what we feed children. I kind of respect Jamie Oliver's efforts a lot more than Alice Waters'. On one hand, if we could just feed people a good meatloaf and some frozen vegetables and teach them to ... read, I'd be pretty damn happy. Before we start talking about how President Obama should throw out $28 billion so that inner-city kids can eat organic vegetables, I think it's our responsibility as a society to teach them basic reading skills. I think that's a higher priority.
When I left the interview, besides feeling absolutely elated that I managed to make it through the entire thing without my voice going ultrasonic from nerves, I started thinking about food choices. Mass food movements, like Waters' slow foods, may not be the best way to bring change to American food culture. Like Tony alluded to, there will always be the corporate giant that can capitalize on food trends. I think it's more about personal choices; if people want to change the way that they eat, if they want to grow their own produce and teach their kids how to eat properly, it will happen on an individual level. That's "the cause" that I think Tony was talking about; we need to make good food personal and accessible to everyone, not a mandate from the food experts.
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Caryn Horowitz is a junior majoring in history. She can be reached at Caryn.Horowitz@tufts.edu.
