Anthony Bourdain Comments About Rachael Ray

I don't expect that Anthony Bourdain is very famous outside of the culinary world, but I have become a big fan of his recently. Anthony has been somewhat of a reluctant celebrity chef and author for over thirty years. Unlike more popular celebrity chefs such as Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay, Anthony is a hard living guy that makes no excuses for his heavy drinking, smoking, or brash personality. What I like most about Anthony is that he is a genuine person, and what you see is what you get. There is no bullshit with this guy.

Anthony currently has a show on the Travel Channel called No Reservations. The show is not a cooking program but more like an adult's only version of Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels without the annoying voice, big mouth, and big ass. In No Reservations, Anthony travels the world and samples cuisine from various cultures. Sometimes Anthony can be seen crawling out of bed with a hangover to have a smoke before heading off to the next culinary adventure. If Anthony doesn't like a meal, he is not afraid to criticize it. If he thinks the food is shit, he calls it shit, and he has the culinary training and credentials to make such judgements.

Recently, Anthony posted a blog about several of the celebrities on The Food Network, including Ray Ray. Anthony's comments about Ray Ray expressed the same sentiments I have had about her for the past year. The more I see her, the more I dislike her, but she's not going away any time soon. Here are Anthony's thoughts on Ray Ray:

RACHAEL: Complain all you want. It’s like railing against the pounding surf. She only grows stronger and more powerful. Her ear-shattering tones louder and louder. 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. She’s a friendly, familiar face who appears regularly on our screens to tell us that “Even your dumb, lazy ass can cook this!” Wallowing in your own crapulence on your Cheeto-littered couch you watch her and think, “Hell…I could do that. I ain’t gonna…but I could--if I wanted! Now where’s my damn jug a Diet Pepsi?” Where the saintly Julia Child sought to raise expectations, to enlighten us, make us better--teach us--and in fact, did, Rachael uses her strange and terrible powers to narcotize her public with her hypnotic mantra of Yummo and Evoo and Sammys. “You’re doing just fine. You don’t even have to chop an onion--you can buy it already chopped. Aspire to nothing…Just sit there. Have another Triscuit…Sleep….sleep….”

Pure genious and pretty ballsy considering that he has an upcoming show on the Food Network. I have no doubt that if Anthony and Ray Ray cross paths in the FN hallway, he'll make the same comments to her face.

You can visit Anthony's website by clicking his pic above.

Here's a clip of Anthony in Vietnam eating a cobra heart that is still beating. I doubt Emeril has the nuts for this.