Why Anthony Bourdain Shared A Meal With Hezbollah, But Swore To Never Dine With Donald Trump
Anthony Bourdain was a complex, passionate individual who lived his life the best way he knew how, and many of us love him for it. An interview with him from 2017 has recently resurfaced on social media, and is putting that fresh perspective back into the light. In it, the interviewer asked him if he would consider dining with Donald Trump, to which Bourdain said, "No."
@nowthisimpact Anthony Bourdain has sat down with Hezbollah and KGB spies, but he'd never eat with Trump.
"I've sat down with everyone from Ted Nugent, the former chief of counterintelligence for the KGB, Hezbollah; you know, people who I, who I disagree with on many, if not every fundamental issue," said Bourdain. The celebrity chef made his name in part by eating food all over the world with people from all walks of life, dining on everything under the sun, so his resume of controversial dinner guests was perfectly on brand. Still, one might think that the man willing to eat with such figures would also sit down with the President of the United States. So what was his beef? Well, beef itself, in a way.
"I don't think he likes food," Bourdain said of Trump. "He only eats steak well-done." It's no secret the way Donald Trump eats steak is divisive, as are some of the other eating habits of the Trump family. Still, given that in 1983 (the year after it was formed), Hezbollah sent a suicide bomber into the U.S. embassy in Beirut and killed 49 people, differences of opinion on steak rarity seem like a relatively meager reason for snubbing dinner plans. Was there more to the story?
Anthony Bourdain was not a fan of Donald Trump
Donald Trump's admittedly poor taste in food does sound like a bad time for a professional chef, but that wasn't the only reason Anthony Bourdain didn't want to eat dinner with him. "I just find him personally objectionable," Bourdain said in the same interview. "If you enjoy sitting there listening to him talk about himself, you know, great. God bless you." We all know the type, and they are annoying to talk to. Like most politicians, American presidents tend to be more narcissistic than the average person. It's an unfortunate fact of life that it takes a certain amount of self-assuredness to reach those lofty heights of power.
The fact that Anthony Bourdain didn't exhibit grandiose narcissism was why he was a refreshing sight in a world of self-centered celebrities. It was definitely one of the many reasons he was so well-liked by his fans. It also helped explain the 'grandma rule' Anthony Bourdain followed when traveling — which required him to eat whatever was put in front of him while a guest in someone's home, no matter how much he disliked the meal, as a gesture of respect.
Being the intelligent and worldly man that he was, Anthony Bourdain could maintain his distaste for Donald Trump while also seeing the bigger picture. "The utter contempt with which privileged Eastern liberals such as myself discuss red-state, gun-country, working-class America as ridiculous and morons and rubes is largely responsible for the upswell of rage and contempt and desire to pull down the temple that we're seeing now," Bourdain told Reason in 2016. Regardless of what you think of Donald Trump or Anthony Bourdain, it's always nice to see nuance being brought into a political environment that often leans more toward tribalism.