Quotes from Anthony Bourdain

By this, I mean simply that many times in my life the statistical probabilities of a fatal outcome have been overwhelming thanks to my sins of excess and poor judgment and my inability to say no to anything that sounded as if it might have been fun. By all rights I should have been, at various times: shot to death, stabbed to death, imprisoned for a significant period of time, or at very least, victimized by a casaba-sized tumor.

In Oaxaca, ancient indigenous traditions and ingredients define not only the mescal, but also the food.

And when you buy a non-stick, treat it nice. Never wash it. Simply wipe it clean after each use, and don't use metal in it, use a wooden spoon or ceramic or non-metallic spatula to flip or toss whatever you're cooking in it. You don't want to scratch the surface.

England's worst boss? I don't think so. England's worst boss is the boss who doesn't give a fuck, someone who's wasting his employees' time, challenging them to do nothing more ambitious than show up.

we have barely scratched the surface of what Mexican food really is. It is not melted cheese over a tortilla chip. It is not simple, or easy. It is not simply 'bro food' at halftime. It is, in fact, old; older even than the great cuisines of Europe and often deeply complex, refined, subtle, and sophisticated.

I believe that the human animal evolved as it did—with eyes in the front of its head, long legs, fingernails, eyeteeth—so that it could better chase down slower, stupider creatures, kill them, and eat them; that we are designed to find and eat meat—and only became better as a species when we learned to cook it.

Call me crazy, call me idealistic, but you know what I believe? I believe that when you're making hamburger for human consumption, you should at no time deem it necessary or desirable to treat its ingredients in ammonia. Or any cleaning product, for that matter. I don't think that's asking a lot—and I don't ask a lot for my fellow burger-eaters.

Sometimes you see the uninviting door and just have to go through it.

Todas las noches, durante un par de segundos, y a lo largo de algunos metros, dejaba mi vida en suspenso. Porque según cuál fuera la siguiente canción que sonara en la radio, decidía dar un volantazo en el momento apropiado y seguir disparado hacia casa, a toda velocidad, o enderezar al hijo de puta y precipitarme hacia el barranco y el océano.

Unfortunately, when residents found that the one patient at the new place was black, they mobbed the place, set it on fire, and chased the patient and caretaker onto a boat.

Así como antes la equitación, el tiro con arco y el don de lenguas se consideraban artes «masculinas» fundamentales, de adquisición imprescindible para todo aspirante a caballero, así debería contemplarse el arte de la cocina.

Fortunately, octo-cannibalism is the sort of thing that leaves me morally outraged without actually ruining my appetite

If you are literally serving shit to American children, or knowingly spinning a wheel where it is not unlikely that you will eventually serve shit—if that's your business model?

Todo el mundo debería saber hacer una tortilla francesa. Cocinar huevos es un comienzo tan bueno como cualquier otro, porque es la primera comida del día y porque el proceso de aprender a hacer una tortilla, para mí, no es solo una técnica, sino una forja de carácter. La técnica de la tortilla enseña delicadeza, necesariamente; comprender lo que sucede en tu sartén y saber actuar en consecuencia requiere cierta sensibilidad.

So, Justo's not being disingenuous when he says he identifies each piece of fish with the name and reputation of his chef. That—at that level of fine dining—is The System, where every server, every cook has to look at every little detail as having the potential to bring down the temple. Everything—absolutely everything—must be right. Always.

every chef I've ever met, if you asked them, 'If you had to spend the rest of your life in one country, eating one country's food for the rest of your life, where would that be?' They're all gonna say the same thing: Japan. Tokyo.

There are don'ts: You don't use anything but your fingers. You definitely don't use soy sauce or additional wasabi. It comes the way he says it should be. That's the way you eat it.

Who can really describe why they fell in love?

physically intimidating-even terrifying — a bully, a yenta

When in "this place," though, a visit to the sauna is all but mandatory. Both a Finnish invention and something of a national pastime, the sauna is "the number one thing people tell you to do around here." In Cold War times, it was a way to ensure that confidential conversations remained so, since it's impossible to wire a nude politician or secret operative

brace yourself for feline taxidermy, disco balls, crystal chandeliers, and other oddities of decor.

If there was a mandatory day of rest – or a public holiday for all Poblanos – a lot of restaurants in America would have to close their doors. As it is, the day after the fifth of May (Cinco de Mayo), half the cooks in America are hungover. Keep that in mind.

When they're yanking a fender out of my chest cavity, I will decidedly not be regretting missed opportunities for a good time. My regrets will be more along the lines of a sad list of people hurt, people let down, assets wasted and advantages squandered.

I went to Ithaca in 1903 when one person in ten was sick, and one person in a hundred was dying from the disease. You have no idea of the state of mind I found the people in. They didn't know what to do; didn't know where to go; didn't know whom to suspect and whom to trust  . .