Greyghost, sorry if I offended you as a smoker. It wasn’t my intention to be PC. I was making a joke about being all political. (Because of the new policies that are confusing people.) For me it’s not political, it’s a case of efficiently running a kitchen.
I’ve known very few cooks who carp about smoking co-workers, nor was I carping.
If you’ve ever been the person running a kitchen or have worked in a kitchen, you are familar with the impossibility of granting equal time to non-smokers. There is no way everyone on the line or off could take 10 minutes out every 40 or 50. It wouldn’t work.

Because I’m the one who runs the kitchen I have to make sure that no one slacks. That’s very seldom a problem. Most people who work with me are fortunately, dedicated, hard working employees. I have had to let go of cooks who couldn’t abide by the rules and would do what ever it took to be off the line to smoke or drink. Not one of them was pausing and thinking about anything other than when they were going to get off the line again. I myself have never had to smoke a cigarette to pause and think about what I was creating.

I The most creative solution to the work inequity was devised by my line cooks themselves. The smokers who took the most breaks had to stay longer to clean. And they happily did it. No one carped about anything, they wanted to find a solution to a real problem in the kitchen. I was proud of them for working things out on their own.

Back to Tony, I thought his interview was terrific. I especially liked what he said regarding people who cooked with no soul. The members on this site can certainly understand what he’s talking about there. Food cooked without soul isn’t what this place is about!

got 2 more of his books for Christmas….. waiting for time to sit down and read them. I have all of them now.

Dennis in Cary

Zataar,

Last I heard Tony does not smoke after the birth of his child. Maybe true, maybe not.
Tony is Tony, however…bad habits and all. That’s why we like him, he is human, an excellent chef and very entertaining.

As a smoker myself, I can tell you about the one benefit it has. It makes you pause and think.
For a chef it makes them pause and think about what he or she is creating. For a writer it does the same thing as it does for any sort of artist.

In my experience it has always been the more creative, thoughtful people that have made a difference in any undertaking. Think about it.

So where have all the smokers gone? Into our own endeavors and we are doing well. We don’t need carping people complaining all the time over nonsense. If you don’t like the time smokers take for breaks, demand equal time, it is only fair.

Personally, I fear for children that line up for diesel powered school busses every day and have to breathe in those fumes. I wonder which would be more dangerous…second hand smoke from a cigarette or tailpipe exhaust from twenty or more busses?

Let’s face it being "PC" has done nothing for our society other than make us compliant and fearful of everything. Tony is refreshing because he is not "PC" and has the guts to go for the gusto, with or without cigarettes.

Yeah, I think he’s sexy in a snarky sort of way, but he really needs to ditch the cigarettes. If I worked with him I’d be annoyed all the time. He would be taking a 10 minute break every 45-50 minutes. I would be getting no break because I would be covering his cute ass. Been there, done that. Don’t want to be there and do that anymore. Smokers should take no more breaks than any other non smoking cook. AND they shouldn’t dog other cooks who don’t smoke when those non-smokers take a break to do whatever non smoking thing it is they do. And I bet you Tony gets all itchy when non smokers take a break, but it’s AOK when smokers go out to smoke. Wow…I really got all political![8D]

quote:

Originally posted by Greyghost

More Bourdain…this time on audio…an 06 interview on NPR…about 8 minutes long. Enjoy.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5430364

Bless you Greyghost……

More Bourdain…this time on audio…an 06 interview on NPR…about 8 minutes long. Enjoy.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5430364

He is wonderful. I received a Christmas gift of an autographed book of his…

Viva Bourdain! I love this guy, he is the real deal. Although I don’t do cable or watch TV at all, I do watch DVD’s and love the No Reservations collection. Thanks for the great link.

I just finished his book, Kitchen Confidential this morning at 4:53 AM. I got up and read for an hour and went back to bed and slept until 6:30. The updated 2007 edition has a similar interview in the back of the book where he says much of the same things. The book originally came out in 2000.

How does he stay so thin? Must be the 4 packs of cigarettes he smokes a each day. I’m surprised he still has taste buds. But, I really, really like him. And, I’m a (very) heterosexual man.

The ladies, they love the Tony. Even Julie and I love Tony and we’re supposed to be immune to the charms, you know?

Listen, Chris. We can go start a Chowhound rumble any time you want. I’ll be your ever ineffective but mouthy wingman. Kind of like Paulie Walnuts with boobs. 🙂

LOVE,LOVE,LOVE BOURDAIN !

quote:

Originally posted by Nancypalooza

That’s a great interview. So if what he’s saying is that dives and diners are the future of cuisine, can we go over to Chowhound and start kicking people in the jumblies?

Nancy, I can’t type BRAVO any bigger for you! I don’t believe I’ve ever laughed so hard at an RF post before yours. I thought I was going to have an asthma attack!

And I think I learned more from the pages of posts linked to this Bourdain interview than the interview itself…[8D]

quote:

Originally posted by roossy90

quote:

Originally posted by matilda

quote:

Originally posted by roossy90

"Sigh"…. my hearts going pitter patter..
Or is that just my high bood pressure?…

I think it may be both.
I must ask, "Am I the only one here trying NOT to have a heart attack?
What a lucky woman his wife is. Wow.

I doubt his first wife would agree, though.

Who cares? She’s no longer in the equation.

quote:

Originally posted by matilda

quote:

Originally posted by roossy90

"Sigh"…. my hearts going pitter patter..
Or is that just my high bood pressure?…

I think it may be both.
I must ask, "Am I the only one here trying NOT to have a heart attack?
What a lucky woman his wife is. Wow.

I doubt his first wife would agree, though.