Bourdain in Philadelphia Recap
Wednesday, December 05, 2007 | posted by Mike
As you may remember, we hemmed and hawed and finally decided that we weren't going to the Anthony Bourdain appearance at the Free Library of Philadelphia. On of the deciding factors was that I knew it was going to be a madhouse, which it was, with part of the crowd having to watch the proceedings via closed circuit.
Fortunately, a member of TVFF Nation was there and filed a report! The link was passed along to us by the author, Reverend Xenakaboom,
Ministress of Earthly Counseling for The First Church of Common Sense (but you can call her Kathy). The Good Rev. starts of with an open (and somewhat combative) letter from a Philadelphian to Bourdain, and then gives a complete rundown of the day's festivities, including having her book signed by the celebrity chef. The post is fantastic, and I suggest you give it a read when you get a chance.
One or two of the highlights:
The questions followed a basic formula. "You have changed my life by [witty explanation]. I would like to follow up with: [Choose One: Animal, Vegetarians or Mineral Rights]". Seriously, the questions focused on the political, food or desire. The food questions were alien to me; I could give a rat's ass about the slow cook movement, or the role of organic food in the ascendancy of the Whole Foods Market.
...
The other question that piqued my interest was the reference to his withering critique of the US Embassy's (non) reaction to the 2006 Beirut uprising. Oh, boy, they were pissed. "Seriously, though," he noted, "for five or six days, every time I called, I heard a recording. 'Your call is very important to us. If you have an immediate question, you can reach us on the Web at ---". His assessment of the U.S. Marines, on the other hand, was, dare I say it, worshipful and gushing. "The Marines are like the poets of the English language. They invented most of the curse words."
BIG thanks to Reverand Xenakaboom for sharing her experience with us!
Labels: Anthony Bourdain
