• Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
Mark Bittman twittered: “A post I should’ve written long ago.” He then provided a link to his blog post at the New York Times regarding what you see on cooking shows versus real life cooking. In the piece Bittman talks of an incident during the taping of The Next Food Network Star where he witnessed a contestant putting a piece of meat on a too hot grill that was instantly charred. The cameras were stopped, an assistant found a replacement meat and cooked it properly, and then the contestant came back on with a big ta-da! more…
How does Anthony Bourdain decide to end the first half of this season of No Reservations? With a trip to Vietnam, of course. I’m not as big on visiting far eastern countries as some people, although I do love asian cuisine. But for some reason Vietnam always intrigues me. What exactly do they have there, and would I like it? It’s easy to find American influenced versions of dishes from Thailand, Japan or China wherever you are in the US. Vietnam remains a mystery, and is still a place of heavy interest. 
The term “food porn” has come to mean just about any picture of food. We use it here at Munch Monster in such a way quite often. But Anthony Bourdain has no interest in mere food pictures. When Bourdain thinks “food porn” he thinks of dishes that just ooze sexiness. Those items on a plate, like crispy pork skin tacos, that are just as obscene as can be. To some these dripping dishes are pure ecstasy, and for others they are disgusting. And that’s part of what makes them so appealing. 
Is it really time for Anthony Bourdain to return to television? Thank god, because most of the celeb chefs making the rounds are just people that have no place telling other people what to cook. Bourdain doesn’t do that in No Reservations, instead he just travels and enjoys the food of the land. As it should be. 
