Time and time again, Anthony Bourdain has talked about how food has the power to bring people together. “If you’re going to intersect anywhere, it’s going to be over food,” Bourdain says in a new chat with Canadian TV program The National. But there’s one person who Bourdain would not break bread with, under any circumstance: President Donald Trump. Last month, Bourdain told Eater about the many reasons why he was worried about the tycoon-turned-politician running the country. And now, the Appetites co-author says that he would decline a dinner invitation from Trump:
I’m open to sitting down with anyone who’s nice to me. I’ve sat down with everyone from Ted Nugent [to] the former chief of counter-intelligence for the KGB [to] Hezbollah — you know, people who I disagree with on many, if not every fundamental issue. I just find him personally objectionable.
I don’t think he likes food, and from people I know who have had to endure dinner with him, if you enjoy sitting there listening to him talk about himself, you know, great — god bless you. And, you know, the man only eats steak well-done. And if he knows how to use chopsticks, much less [be] able to grasp them with those tiny little nubbins, I’d be shocked.
On the other hand, Bourdain says that President Obama is “very, very proficient with chopsticks,” which is something he learned last year when they had lunch together in Vietnam. Elsewhere in this chat with The National, Bourdain talks about cooking for his daughter — who prefers that he not repeat school lunches — and making connections with people around the world through food. The Parts Unknown host, who travels 250 days a year, remarks: “I’ve gotten along with people everywhere in this world and heard some incredible stories, largely because I sit down without an agenda and ask them a very simple question: What’s for dinner?”
• The Nation [YouTube]
• Anthony Bourdain: The Post-Election Interview [E]
• All Coverage of Anthony Bourdain [E]
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