Who is Josh Friedland? Ask Ruth Bourdain.

This is big. Ruth Bourdain, the bawdy, brainy Twitter mashup persona of Anthony Bourdain and Ruth Reichl unveiled him/herself to The New York Times this morning in front page news. Since March of 2010, Ruth Bourdain has been tweeting hilarious, pointed musings on the culinary affectations of modern day foodie greats.

The real identity of this James Beard award winning culinary star has been the subject of breathless speculation (at times). S/he turns out to be, Josh Friedland, a calm, somewhat serious foodie at the helm of Food Section, a website that features Josh’s original reporting and food stories that he gathers from all over the universe. The amazing thing is that there is not a hint of snark, irony or satire on his site. There IS however a huge amount of information, news and culinary intelligence that would work perfectly as the basis for Ruth Bourdain’s mocking messaging on Twitter. And let’s not forget that Josh lives in Joisey!  

  

The real world tweets of Ruth Reichl and Anthony Bourdain seem like a parody in themselves, so it was a brilliant idea to combine them. As of this writing, here is Reichl’s latest tweet:

ruthreichl ‏@ruthreichl 2h

Fuzzy gray Rothko sky. Strangely gorgeous. Sour cherry lemonade. Fresh warm biscuits. Apricot jam. Bright food for a pale morning.

And another:

ruthreichl ‏@ruthreichl 10 Jul

Air warm. Heavy. Skies gray. Wild turkeys on the lawn. Bright cold watermelon splashed with cream. Iced lemon verbena tea. Lighter.    

                   

These are some recent tweets from Anthony Bourdain (who has calmed down a lot after having a daughter and marrying):

Anthony Bourdain ‏@Bourdain 5 Jul

Are airport food service operations required to hire all staff through A Dribbling, Uncaring Idiots Union? No other explanation #GoatRodeo

Anthony Bourdain ‏@Bourdain 30 Jun

Breakfast: coffee, lipitor and my last Congolese painkiller.

                     

I was fairly certain Ruth Bourdain was Alice Waters, who actually admitted to it in 2011. Okay, it WAS on April Fool’s Day, but I loved the idea that the super serious and painfully earnest chef could mock herself with such abandon. It IS cool to know RB’s real identity, but I wonder if her/his tweets will lose a bit of their edge, knowing that they come from such a seemingly calm and dispassionate observer of the culinary scene.

The Storm Between Paula And Tony And Is This The SAME Tony Bourdain Who Gave It To Alice Waters For Being An Elitist?

Last week, I noticed that the dustup between Tony and Paula was getting pretty heated. It was even commented upon on the Op-Ed page* of the NY Times last week. I guess what the grand dame of heart-stoppingly good Southern cuisine and the bad boy of the professional kitchen have to say about each other must be pretty important.

To recap, Anthony Bourdain spoke ill of several Food Network hosts – Paula, Guy, Aunt Sandy and RR in an interview with TV Guide. He said, “The worst, most dangerous person to America is clearly Paula Deen. She revels in unholy connections with evil corporations and she's proud of the fact that her food is f---ing bad for you."

He doesn’t stop there:

“If I were on at seven at night and loved by millions of people at every age, I would think twice before telling an already obese nation that it's OK to eat food that is killing us. Plus, her food sucks."

We got Paula’s response on Page Six of the Daily News:

“Anthony Bourdain needs to get a life. You don’t have to like my food, or Rachael’s, Sandra’s and Guy’s. But it’s another thing to attack our character.“

Paula continues, "Not everyone can afford to pay $58 for prime rib or $650 for a bottle of wine. (BINGO, Paula!) My friends and I cook for regular families who worry about feeding their kids and paying the bills . . . It wasn’t that long ago that I was struggling to feed my family, too.”

Why is this news? Bourdain’s been making negative comments about television cooking hosts forever. Actually, I thought Tony had slowed down his Rachael-Ray-is-the-most-evil-thing-on-the-planet rants (not that I totally disagree, but only about her cooking, not her personhood). I guess he has a new season of No Reservations to promote.

The real reason this particular back and forth has caught fire now is that Paula’s response has touched a nerve. She knows what it’s like to be on the other side of affluence – having been through a divorce, agoraphobia and economic worries. She may be living on easy street now, but no one can deny it was an uphill battle filled with hard work and sacrifice.

By portraying Tony’s diatribe as an attack on the have-nots by the haves, who casually order hugely expensive restaurant meals and think nothing of buying any ingredient they fancy, no matter the price, (as long as it’s politically correct), Paula has struck a chord.

The ironic thing is that Tony took Paula’s side of this argument against Alice Waters not so long ago. It must be inconvenient for him to remember that he railed against Alice Waters’ philosophy of supporting local farmers and pushing organic, farm fresh foods as being incredibly rarified and elitist. He said this in 2007:

"We're all in the middle of a recession, like we're all going to start buying expensive organic food and running to the green market. There's something very Khmer Rouge about Alice Waters that has become unrealistic."

Tony ends with this statement – “I’m a little uncomfortable with legislating good eating habits.” HUH?!!! Why the diatribe against Paula, then?

Why is it, when arguing against Alice Waters, that Tony feels we should have the choice to eat whatever we want? But he doesn’t allow the same freedom of food expression to Paula and her fans.

Our dastardly eating habits come from so many places. Paula is not the number one cause. I’d look to too much television time and paying too much attention to video screens as pretty high on the list of what we should change. Our sedentary lifestyle is the root cause for many of our obesity issues.

If we worked in the fields or paced factory floors or even walked up and down 20 flights of stairs a day, the story would be different. But many of us work and play (and eat) in front of screens and unless we’re bicycling or elliptical-ing at the same time, WHATEVER we eat is just going to sit there…no matter what it is.

No one home to cook or teach youngsters how to cook is another problem. It IS amazing how many people do not know simple kitchen basics. Adding a cooking curriculum to schools would be one great way to foster a healthier lifestyle in every family.

The list goes on and on. Bad food available cheaply and plentifully is another reason why so many eat so poorly. Lack of fresh food in many neighborhoods is a huge problem.

I can’t criticize Paula for all of our nutritional woes. I would feel as if I were saying something bad about a beloved aunt. Plus Paula has such a cozy way of welcoming us into her kitchen.

Anthony Bourdain is as warm and cuddly as a rattlesnake, even if I’m sure his culinary likes and dislikes are a lot close to mine than Paula’s are. I also like his sense of humor, although I do find him a bit scary. But does he really not see the contradiction in criticizing Alice Waters for demanding fresh, local food (especially to kids), and, at the same time, blasting Paula for cooking feel-good food and working with a company that gives loads of (okay, not the healthiest) food away every year?

Isn’t it obvious how incongruous it is that TODAY he’s playing the Alice Waters’ role and PAULA is playing his, by crying foul, that the normal person can’t afford high falutin’ baby squashes or rainbow colors of kale, whatever that is anyway.

Frank Bruni makes a good point in comparing Tony’s harangue to what’s going on in Washington. The tenor of the Tony’s remarks (actually they’re more like rants) is the opposite of an open-hearted, kind-spirited conversation to find common ground.

On the subject of food, at least, it’s a shame that something that can bring so much joy, not to mention actual physical sustenance, is being used as a way to demonize one’s opponents.

Of course, there are gads of tough practical issues and some moral ones too. What if KFC offered to give away millions of pounds of food to poor school children? What if they offered to supply free school lunches across America? Probably the people in charge would say no. But does that mean they would prefer kids to go hungry than to eat KFC?

What if Cool Whip were offered in every shelter and soup kitchen? Obviously, to that one I would say no and hope a more healthful alternative could be found. But that’s easy for someone with a full refrigerator (before the hurricane, at least) and pantry stocked with extras to say. To folks with few alternatives, free ham or cheap hamburgers at least fills them up to fight another day.

It’s hard to disagree with Tony that people should eat better and make better choices. I’ve always agreed when Alice Waters has said the same thing. But the best way to make that happen probably does not include accusing sweet Paula of crimes against humanity and berating the food so venomously that she offers with such love and affection.

*And isn’t it interesting that The Times now has TWO food-centric writers on their Op-Ed and Opinion pages? Frank Bruni AND Mark Bittman.)

WHO is Ruth Bourdain? Really?!!

It actually DOES make sense.

I’ve been away, so that’s my only excuse for not presenting this important story as breaking news. But this is HUGE news…WHENEVER you hear about it.

The real life identity of Ruth Bourdain has been the subject of speculation ever since she started Tweeting. The alternately poetically waxing and scurrilously cursing Tweetster has demonstrated a wicked sense of humor AND an intense, deep knowledge of food topics and issues. Who could this person have been?

I found it quite surprising for a couple of reasons to learn that Ruth Bourdain is no other than Alice Waters, chef of all that is good and holy and, hopefully, organic.   

Firstly, we don’t think of the Mother of California Cuisine as being foul-mouthed or particularly amusing, but, boy, is she! Apparently, she needed an outlet for the more base parts of her personality, while still wanting to express her foodie-ism. And secondly, she has an ongoing feud of sorts with Anthony Bourdain, which makes this whole taking-on-part-of-his-identity-thing even funnier.

Alice Waters said this about him and Ruth Reichl:

"Well, Tony has always been something of an ass to me. So there's that. But he also represents this tremendous dark-side of the human psyche. He is drugs, and sex, and rock music. Then to pair that with the lovely, idyllic musings of Ruth Reichl just seemed to make sense to me at the time. I'd had a glass of wine at that point, certainly."

Bourdain has said this about HER:

Alice Waters annoys the living shit out of me. We’re all in the middle of a recession, like we’re all going to start buying expensive organic food and running to the green market. There’s something very Khmer Rouge about Alice Waters that has become unrealistic. I mean I’m not crazy about our obsession with corn or ethanol and all that, but I’m a little uncomfortable with legislating good eating habits. I’m suspicious of orthodoxy, the kind of orthodoxy when it comes to what you put in your mouth.

The full story, or the up-to-right-now story, is here.

Alice Waters, AS ALICE WATERS, tweeted the truth on April 1st:

AliceWaters 

Yes, It's True. I Am @RuthBourdain

1 Apr 

In the past, there have been reports that both Tony and Ruth Reichl loved Ruth Bourdain’s tweets. So far I haven’t found Tony’s response. Here is Ruth Reichl’s:

 

ruthreichl @lalioneyes If Alice Waters is Ruth Bourdain, I will follow in Herzog's footsteps and eat my shoe. Did I miss that rumor? Not a chance.    1 Apr  

ruthreichl @lalioneyes Yes, I do believe it's really Alice. She called to tell me that, no longer a luddite, she was about to begin to tweet. 1 Apr 

I’m kind of sorry to lose the illusion of Ruth Bourdain, but, at least, she’s still tweeting. One recent tweet: 

RuthBourdain
I just got Gwyneth Paltrow's new cookbook, and I have to say it's very illuminating. That's because I set it on fire. 7 Apr 

We’re lucky, though, that the Bronx Zoo Cobra is still active on Twitter, even after being found. She is still one of the funniest tweeters online. She reacted after the public voted to name her Mia:

@BronxZoosCobra So, the vote is in. They want to name me Mia. But in my heart I'll always know that my true name is Mrs. Justin Bieber.
7 Apr via web 

I guess the lesson from all of this is that funny tweets can come from anyone or anywhere - cook or cobra. 

Food News About And Around – Top Chef; Mayo Without Eggs; A Bocuse D’or Backer-Outer And Ripert And Bourdain Chat On Radio

Top Chef Masters

The chefs for the second season of Top Chef Masters have been selected and there are a few repeats from the first go-around - unfortunately, not my fav though, Michael Chiarello. (He obviously did so well last time that they didn’t want to hand it to him on a silver platter.)

Mark Peel, Wylie Dufresne and Rick Moonen are back, as are Ludo Lefebvre, Jonathan Waxman and Graham Elliot Bowles. I wonder if people will say those chefs had the advantage of competing before if any of them win?

Of the new chefs, one of my favorites is Susan Feniger. She’s one half of the Too Hot Tamales. I’ve always liked Govind Armstrong too, (he’s hot), and I’m excited to see Marcus Samuelsson. The full list of all the competitors is here.

The judges are the same as last time - critic Gael Greene, Saveur editor-in-chief, James Oseland, food critic Jay Rayner and Top Chef judge Gail Simmons. Kelly Choi will be back as the host. BTW, Gail is getting her own show on Bravo to host, Top Chef Just Desserts.

The second season of Top Chef Masters will start on March 7 at 11 pm, before moving to 10 pm the following week.

Homemade Mayonnaise Without Eggs?

Is it possible? Most definitely. Amanda Hesser reports on her website, Food52, on the making of this magical mayo. It’s from David Leite's book, The New Portuguese Table.

What’s the magic ingredient? Whole milk. Yup, apparently whole milk and oil DO emulsify to make a light silky mayonnaise. The secret seems to be adding the oil VERY slowly at the beginning.

Here’s another story about this wonderful eggless mayo and it includes some of David Leite’s interesting variations as well.

Bocuse D’Or Drop-Out

I really don’t mean that to sound so negative, because I thought it was dumb, IN THE FIRST PLACE, when Kevin Gillespie won a chance to compete for a place on the American team of the Bocuse d’Or competition. Let’s be honest, maybe we could see one of the Brothers V competing in this imposing challenge, but Kevin? He's too relaxed, too nice, too laid back.

NOTE: Kevin won this opportunity in the episode that had me weeping (well, VERY misty-eyed, at least) at the end.

So what exactly happened when Kevin Gillespie dropped out of the Bocuse D’Or competition, just weeks before it was to be held at the CIA in Hyde Park, NY?

OR, at least, THAT'S when Andrew Friedman, writing on his website, Toqueland, noticed that Kevin’s name was no longer on the list of competitors. He called Bocuse d'Or USA for clarification and reported on January 22nd that he was out. (Friedman is also the author of Knives At Dawn, about the US quest to win the Bocuse D’Or.)

WHY did Kevin drop out? Because “he didn't have time to prepare, and didn't want to let the country down. He felt like there was somebody else who deserved that spot. He's a perfectionist and didn't feel like he could do his best with everything going on,” reported a spokesperson.

The “everything going on” is his commitment to Bravo to do all kinds of appearances and other promotional activities. It’s a shame when those things prevent a chef from actually chef-ing. The committee invited him (I have no idea WHY) to participate again in the 2013 try-outs (held in 2012).

It’s not that I think Kevin, himself, is so ill-equipped to compete for a Bocuse D’Or spot. It’s that the chefs, who DO compete, completely dedicate themselves to the preparation of it for months in advance. (In Europe, they allow many months – or more – to prepare.) Here's more background on what it takes to get ready.

Tom Colicchio, in his lengthy blog post at the time, definitely thought Kevin deserved at shot. Would he say that now, I wonder?

The chef who was selected to take his place, Jim Burke, executive chef/owner of James restaurant in Philadelphia, was – in HIS OWN words – an underdog. He got a late start because he was filling in for Kevin and, because he owns and cooks at his own restaurant, he didn’t have a big organization behind him. He turned out to be right.

The winner of the Bocuse D’Or USA competition, held at the beginning of February, was James Kent, Sous Chef, from Danny Meyer's Eleven Madison Park in New York. His assistant was another sous chef from Eleven Madison, Tom Allan.

The Tony and Eric Show

Anthony Bourdain, the Howard Stern of the cooking world and Eric Ripert, singular in his gracious- and graceful–ness, will be joining together to host a food-centric radio show, Turn and Burn.

A lot of publicity has been given to one feature of the show, which will “expand the food porn genre into radio.” Basically, Tony will describe culinary wonders in an erotic way and then delight in trying to get Eric’s more restrained narrative of said items to become increasingly profane.

THAT part seems like a huge waste of two culinary geniuses. I LOVE the idea of a food show on radio. I could listen to folks talking about food forever, but why bother with the blue slant on the show?

Why not let Tony be Tony and talk as he wishes, but also let Eric be Eric and let us hear his elegant musings on culinary matters, rather than simply trying to shock us by being a Bourdain/wanna-be.

The language can go where it will, as the show will be broadcast on Sirius/XM on the Martha Stewart Living Radio station.

The idea for the pairing came about as a result of the two chefs appearing on At Martha's Table on Sirius/XM. Guests will include Martha and Mario Batali and the show will have an initial run of five weeks, airing every Thursday from 7 to 8 pm, beginning February 18th on Sirius channel 112, and XM channel 157.