I like Tony Bourdain. I watch the show regularly. What I love about the guy is his honesty and openness to anything and everything. That's why i was shocked to hear him say on one of the commercial breaks that if you travel to say Thailand, and then want to incorporate Thai elements into your cooking, you're arrogant and presumptuous. WTF? ( And what the hell was the point of that interlude after the Marie Osmond weight loss comercial?) He says he's mastered French cooking over many years. But didn't that maybe start (if I remember from "Kitchen Confidential") when he traveled to France as a boy? Sorry Tony. But I'm not going there with you. I travel to learn about food from other cultures, and if I want to make a yuzu dressing or a tamale, I shall. And i don't believe that I'm being arrogant or presumptuous. I'll do it because I'm excited about a flavor or a technique. And because it tastes good. Not because I think I'm Morimoto or Diana Kennedy. Get of the high horse, Tony. It's called "cooking".

i have to agree.
very well stated stagiare.
in the same commercial break, he said he cooked "ok" italian food at home.
well, he's not italian, and didn't learn to cook in italy, so why cook italian at home, but not any other cuisine?
if i like the flavor of food i eat, i'd like to experience at least a close approximation of that flavor at home.
i don't think that's arrogant, i think it's a compliment to the specific cuisine.
i completeley understand i am not a native of whatever culture, nor a professional chef.
i just like flavorful food.
besides, it fun to try new things at home.
bourdain has said alot of things in the past that he's had to backtrack on, this is undoubtably one of them.
thank goodness he doesn't seem to have a problem doing that.
just an aside----i wonder what his italian wife's opinion is of his "ok" italian cooking? lol

I guess what really took me back was the suddenness of the commentary. I'm watching the show, they go to commercial, and all of a sudden there's Tony on this rant about arrogance and presumption. My daughter, who's worked as a cook, and I just looked at each other in kind of stunned amazement? This is an impostor! This can't be Tony Bourdain! A week later, I'm still puzzled over the whole thing.

if you remember-- the Italins made fun of his Italian cooking when he visited TUSCANY.. now, his wife can cook it authentically for him.

oh well.. whatever.

What exactly did he say? I didn't catch it.

i didn't save the episode but it was a commentary about travel affecting the way that you cook. (i'm paraphrasing here, remember,) and he said that just because you visit Thailand doesn't give you the right to incorporate Thai ingredients into your cooking. it would be arrogant and presumptuous to do so, he claims. they've been cooking that way for hundreds of years, etc. he talked about how it took years for him to learn to cook in the French manner. (this is what puzzled me because it seems to contradict what he was saying.) he closed the commentary by saying that travel has not changed the way he cooks. it's changed the way he eats. i still, two weeks later, don't get the point of the whole thing. i wish he'd comment on this further somewhere so we could figure out what the hell he was talking about. he put it on his show and i personally think, has some explaining to do.

well, then-- we can just deduce he was in his cups drinking too much 'moonshine' when he said it!

besides, incorporating this & that-- isn't that what 'fusion' is all about?!

If you call it fusion you can put tiny portions on the plate and charge more for it too!