Don’t Eat Before Reading This (1999)
newyorker.com
newyorker.com
I spent quite a few formative years working in food service/kitchen jobs and this is definitely something I noticed. I came up with a theory as to why, which I think is largely still true:
Preparing food is a “fast loop” activity. By this I mean that the amount of time it takes to go from putting in work to seeing a reward is fairly short, often only a few minutes. You see the efforts of your labor quickly, without needing to conceptualize the idea of receiving a reward at some unknown point in the future.
This makes it ideal for those with short attention spans, the type of people that do eat the marshmallow instead of waiting for a greater reward. [1.]
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experimen...
I myself think I prefer the working style of fast loop jobs to that of typical office intellectual work. There is something much more real and rewarding about making a thing, from start to finish, in fifteen minutes or an hour. Unfortunately the modern white collar economy is not organized this way.
Any uneducated, not particularly bright person can start by washing the dishes, get promoted to serving them, etc.
Source: many years of working in restaurants.
It's also important to learn from Bourdain's life that even if someone's life looks perfect from the outside, you never know what people are going through. Everyone deserves empathy. And please, if you are suffering, remember that you are not alone and there are people who can help.
Indeed, Wikipedia agrees with you:
> In 1999, Bourdain's essay "Don't Eat Before Reading This" was published in The New Yorker. The essay, an unsolicited submission to the magazine, launched Bourdain's media career and served as the foundation for Kitchen Confidential. Released in 2000 to wide acclaim, the book is both a professional memoir and an unfiltered look at the less glamorous aspects of high-end restaurant kitchens, which he describes as unremittingly intense, unpleasant, hazardous, and staffed by misfits. Bourdain believes that the kitchen is no place for dilettantes or slackers and that only those with a masochistic dedication to cooking will remain undeterred.
Reminds you that its always good to be good at two things and bring them together. In this case he was sharp-witted and great at prose as well as being a celebrated chef. So why not host a show on food... Ultimately though, that may have been his undoing.
It should be noted that Bourdain later walked back some of this advice years later -- as the population became more aware of what they eat, the industry adapted.
anyway, I once had the opportunity to talk with him at a Q&A, basically said that the shows were great and all, but what I really loved were his novels, and was he working on anything new? The look on his face, he just glowed. I think writing was his real passion, and the TV and travel stuff kind of derailed that.
In New York, the main linguistic spice is Spanish. “Hey, maricón! chupa mis huevos” means, roughly, “How are you, valued comrade? I hope all is well.”> Bourdain began his ascent as a writer and public personality when his mother sent a manuscript to me more than twenty years ago. Like any editor, I receive many unsolicited manuscripts, and each one carries a message: ignore this at your peril; brilliance could await. I read Bourdain’s piece and started laughing almost immediately.[0]
I was fortunate enough to get to see Anthony retell this story during an interview at The New Yorker Festival, shortly before his passing.
[0] https://www.newyorker.com/books/double-take/sunday-reading-r...
Yikes. A comment that was a product of its times, I suppose.
It is worth noting that Anthony Bourdain appeared to have changed his mind about vegetarian food after visiting Punjab, India[1], like so many other Western chefs whose only experience of vegetarian food so far was soggy vegetables, coleslaw, cold French fries, and sub-par pasta.
It helps to have a history of vegetarianism going back nearly four millennia, I suppose.
In the article at least though, his argument actually isn't that it's not a fresh catch (which is the advice I've heard before, not attributed to him) but rather that it's spent a few days in the kitchen (because there won't have been a delivery) and so it's seen too much temperature fluctuation & co-mingled with various meats.
I don't know if it is or was an issue or not, or as commonly true as he claimed, but the point doesn't seem to be about taste, so how old what we 'freshly buy' from a supermarket is isn't really relevant.
I know at least one professional chef who didn't. They also supposedly ran into him in the city a few years before this article was written and said that he was, to paraphrase, not an especially nice person. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I've only ever been on the periphery of the industry so I can't really judge. I have, however, worked with enough intensely-talented people to know that intense personality traits are sometimes par for the course. If you can't separate the art from the artist at least _some_ of the time then you'll run dry of things to enjoy.
Surprisingly those things suddenly start to diminish the moment they start to approach 30.
I have always harbored the suspicion that since you can't get anyone shocked with getting drunk and doing stupid stuff nowadays it is mostly done for attention seeking.
The people were in their 20s. Way too unsophisticated tastebuds to appreciate the brilliance of the margherita.
Still true today.
I am vegan who eats meat on Saturdays. Don't get me started about hate, and policing I get from other vegans! Every one has to step in to protect sanctity of this "cult"!
(Personally -- I don't judge anyone's dietary choices -- but I rely on accurate use of the term to identify safe spaces.)
There are Muslims who drink alcohol, Christians who visited church years ago...
I don't always have a choice about what I eat.
If someone is vegan for a year then eats meat the next, do we retroactively revoke their year 1 veganism?
If I am vegan for January and then in February eat meat, am I retroactively not a vegan for January?
It sounds like this person is a vegan at least six days a week. I don’t see how Saturday erases Friday any more than 2023 would erase 2022. And I don’t begrudge them becoming vegan again on Sunday. Who would that benefit? Being vegan 6 days a week is way more vegan than most people.
Like many labels I think it comes down to intent more than timeframe.
If you go vegan and then a day/month/year/decade later you change your mind and decide it's not working then you were vegan during that time and are no longer vegan.
But if you take a hiatus from consuming animal products with intent to go back to eating meat in a few hours/weeks/months then I wouldn't say you were a vegan during that time. If I happen to go a few days between consuming animal products that doesn't make me a vegan during those days.
But nobody has a right to harass me, just because they seen me eating meet outside of my social circle!
If someone tells me they're a vegan, but they eat meat every single week, I would have to put less stock in everything they later tell me, including complaints about being 'harassed'.
Thanks for your answer, yes, this is the case for many people I know.
Or maybe a straight man who only sleeps with other men on Saturdays?
Or a reformed crook who robs banks on Saturdays?
Or a devout Christian who stocks up on indulgences on Friday so they can sin every Saturday?
Or maybe it was meant to be funny
Bourdain (unintentionally or not) painted the dietary choices and the culture of some 700+ million people (about a tenth of the human population then) as 'as enemies of everything that’s good and decent'. It was a rubbish and narrow-minded comment then, it still is one now.
I'm willing to bet that for all his pomp and puffery, Bourdain never actually ate Indian food until he went there, did so, and changed his mind. Credit where it is due, but then again, Indian food generally changes everyone's minds about vegetarianism, so not so much.
You wouldn't say that about left-handed people, would you?
One of the most commonly made-fun-of groups in America. You couldn't have picked a worse example. Yes, we would absolutely say that about left-handed people. "Left" and "sinister" are related words in Latin, and right-handed people won't ever let southpaws forget it.
They almost always get the joke. I don’t give a flying Wallenda about those who don’t. Life’s too short. People love laughing at themselves and their cultures. And they love laughing at others even more.
Yea that part might be a bit exaggerated, but in general Bourdain has stated in the past his support (or tolerance?) of vegetarianism when it comes to religion and not when it is first world luxury virtue signalling.
There is a diverse pantheon of Indian cuisine outside of North Indian food - paneer, chicken tikka, and other cream-laden dishes that have come to represent Indian cuisine.
You need to visit the Indian-heavy areas of New Jersey, Dallas, Houston, San Jose to get a proper indoctrination into real Indian food.
Or... one could just visit India :)
Yes, it's diverse, yes there are some dishes that are overshadowed; but that doesn't make it less interesting, or worse less indian.
It's not like this is a one-off case either. The meme about vegans being this way exists for a reason. Look up That Vegan Teacher[1] for more examples of this behavior.
So it's possible the author had real life exposure vegans.
I'll grant that maybe 50% of vegans aren't raving lunatics. But the ones who aren't raving lunatics need to distance themselves from the raving ones. Maybe call themselves "non-abusive vegans" or something like that. If their didn't all occupy the same label that would be helpful. Of course, the abusers would probably adopt the new lingo too since they're supposedly doing it for your own good. :(
[1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-q4j_ttUgWmir4-Cwh_Hrg
I've never killed a large animal, so maybe she was right, but I have killed small ones, and being annoyed I told her I didn't see a problem with killing an animal myself if I had to.
She stared at me for a moment, her face getting paler, called me a demon, and walked off.
I'm sure it must be hard feeling like that about meat eating (her housemate was also on the trip, and they at one point debated what to do about an ant-infestation because they couldn't bear killing them - this was not a casual thing to her) and living around people like us.
Especially if they, like me, are the kind of meat eater who still takes pleasure from having been called a demon to my face almost 30 years later.
I am a relatively considerate meat eater though, I make sure as much as possible to stay way from cattle raised in factory farms (partly due to taste, partly due to ethical concerns).
You should praise her selflessness, then encourage her to act as host to several threatened human parasites, starting with the Guinea worm.
For her to save these poor creatures would enshrine her virtue!
Some have made a religion out of it. If you want to get an idea of how tiresome it can get, go to r/vegan and observe the folks getting into pissing contests about whether, for instance, vegans should have any contact with non-vegans.
I think there's something deeply ironic about taking the moral high ground, since even the most committed vegans still benefit from animal agriculture in ways they probably aren't aware of. It's like capitalism --- utterly inescapable in today's world. You just ought to do the best you can under the circumstances.
Sorry to hear you've got such a grating relative, but I assure you most vegetarians and vegans don't make it a point to piss people off (unless first provoked); they're just trying to live with the choices they have made.
I personally believe in leading by example rather than trying to outright convince anyone that my choices are better.
The meme about vegans being this way exists for a reason.
Mostly this is due to people who eat meat being unwilling to be faced with the actual impact of their choices, and in turn hamming up the existence of this attitude.
I'll grant that maybe 50% of vegans aren't raving lunatics. But the ones who aren't raving lunatics need to distance themselves from the raving ones.
No they don’t; you need to learn not to apply broad brush strokes to a large community. It’s a you problem.
I’m sorry you have an asshole relative. But the overwhelming majority of vegans don’t give a shit about you or your choices - certainly on a personal level.
The double standard between "pets" and "livestock" is especially illuminating in this regard. I know many people that will say eating a dog is unconscionable... right before ordering another helping of bacon.
I haven't tried but I would do it given the choice. Eating cat would be more problematic for me though.
Less meat and too much bones?
Ridiculous, it’s not their problem, it’s a vegan community problem. Let’s not pretend that it’s not a well earned reputation. The noise those zealots create within the community is so unusual and loud that you simply do not find that type of holier than thou condemnation behavior from literally any other diet’s adherents.
I have had people bark at me from a sidewalk for enjoying a steak but I have never had someone bark at me from a sidewalk for enjoying a salad.
I have seen people on HN send comment after comment on the evils of eating meat, but have yet to see anyone claim that eating vegetables is an evil act.
If you don’t like the reputation, start policing your own.
> Let’s not pretend that it’s not a well earned reputation.
It's not.
Judging a group by their loudest and most obnoxious members is lazy and intellectually dishonest; even if it happens all the time.
Most vegans I know are placid and kind. I'd have to say that meat eaters are far more obnoxious about vegans than vice versa.
Same as the people I know who complain about the 'stoner lifestyle' and think that this justifies prohibition. They're far more irritating to me than the average cannabis enthusiast, most of whom you wouldn't know from looking at them, and most of whom don't make cannabis their personality.
Deep down, us meat eaters know that we're eating an animal that had feelings like ours (or we're ignorant). And, we know that the Western diet is contributing to deforestation and a burning planet (again, or we're willfully ignorant).
Attacking vegans is like attacking a cyclist for believing in climate change, because a few cyclists had the audacity to suggest we use the car less or fund public transport. Popular - but lame.
You mean…like both being food that humans can eat?
Regarding your other philosophical arguments for the behavior of preachy vegans—I don’t have any guilty feelings about the food that I eat that would lead me to be apologetic for the behavior of assholes.
I also view other groups that have a public reputation for and have obnoxious members that want to proselytize their morality to me too…so this isn’t limited to vegans.
No, like the part where you need to slaughter and butcher a mammal with feelings and a social circle, after converting old growth forest to logs and pesticides.
Surprised I need to spell that out tbh - you wouldn't be acting disingenuous, would you?
> I don’t have any guilty feelings about the food that I eat that would lead me to be apologetic for the behavior of assholes.
That doesn't mean you aren't feeling guilty, just that you've dissociated from your natural response. Cognitive dissonance is a real thing.
And, who asked you to "be apologetic for the behavior of assholes"? Is this now about you feeling victimized somehow? Because one vegan, one time, said something to you from outside a restaurant? ... Okay, I guess. Weird though.
I am not morally conflicted and as such if someone wants to proselytize to me and attempt to impose their mortality and condemn me, I am well within my right to consider them an asshole. I am also capable of judging the behavior of many people who share that same belief and express the same proselytizing here on HN as representatives of that same group…and by their behavior define the qualities and beliefs of that group. I damn sure don’t see the gentle and non-judgemental members disagreeing with those assholes when they get loud. Their silence is compliance.
So it’s not just one, but many, and judging from the lack of apparent public disagreement within that group it’s a well deserved reputation.
Conversely you can be a truly awful person within a group with a good public reputation and that good group reputation will apply to you too, even if you don’t deserve it.
There's an interesting lack of "respect" for lack of a better word when it comes to western dishes, you wouldn't go to an Indian restaurant and ask for a dish to be made with beef or without spices but people ask western chefs to make dishes without using the core elements that basically define western cuisine, meat and dairy is everything.
It might be more accurate to say 'meat and dairy is everything in northern French cuisine', which Bourdain was a product of. Many Mediterranean cuisines are considerably more vegetarian-friendly: consider simple and fairly traditional Italian dishes like cacio e pepe, carciofi alla giudia, sugo all'arrabbiata, spaghetti aglio e olio, parmigiana melanzane, and pizza margherita/napoletana.
That said, I get your point, and I wouldn't go to a steakhouse demanding good vegetarian food.
Steak fiorentina
Traditional western cuisine was largely vegetarian in this sense. Meat used to be an expensive luxury, and most people didn't eat it every day.
…oh no!