Anthony Bourdain, Alice Waters and Duff Goldman

Selected full Forums now available at www.theforumchannel.tv Celebrated chefs Anthony Bourdain, Alice Waters and Duff Goldman discuss the organic food movement at the "Food for Thought" Forum. The moderator for The Forum was Colin McEnroe.
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[@jeffvalley67]

I was at this. One question was: what would your last meal be? She said shark fin soup. You could hear the whole audience gasp - Tony and Duff just put their heads down. She asked if that was bad. She has no grasp of the real world.

[@EndlessTurtles]

I think a lot has to do with your priorities. I work full time, and I'm a full time student with no federal aid ,and the majority of my check goes to food- real food. Its not always organic, but its a lot of fruits and vegetables. I buy cage free eggs, and free roaming meat. I don't have a car, I walk and bike. The only people who need to get REAL, are the ones who think having a 42" tv or nice clothes is more important than what goes IN YOUR BODY. Your choice, I made mine.

[@Natehc1984]

@121sj She addressed that issue. Right now, we as country subsidize fast food (through corn, which is used to make corn syrup, corn starch, etc.) If we stopped subsidizing that, and actually subsidized real food, than it would be a lot easier for a student to eat healthy food. I'm a student too, and I don't have much money either, but that doesn't mean I disregard what this woman is saying.

[@ryanv414]

Alice water is one of the most greatest chefs to ever set foot in California ground PERIOD.

[@Sarara14]

I think all three chefs made good points. Since I tend to be more pragmatic, I side with Anthony Bourdain. Being fortunate enough to not have to choose between the quantity or quality of my food, I prefer to buy from my local farmer's market when I can because the food is fresher and therefore better tasting than supermarket or fast food. But to each each their own. Do what makes you happy.

[@SynerJetics]

I love Bourdain... and his Hedonism

[@MLErgott08]

There have been community gardens set up in areas like the hood where people begin to become curious about growing food, and if there was more people who decided to start up community gardens more people might become more interested. There is a book called "Farm City" which is set in a bad part of Oakland, CA where the author creates a garden where she shares the harvest.

[@superOdi123]

oh yea and i love anthony bourdain

[@asianmalaysian]

Im somewhere between the two. Theyre both my heroes. And Bourdain certainly doesnt advocate eating that 99cent peice of chicken in his Les Halles cookebook.

[@RICKANDDIANNE]

Bourdain is a realist.

[@msreallystinks]

Was

[@Nmkuester]

@TheEvilOyo lived in harlem, they have plenty of good produce where I lived for a good price and actually a better selection of veg than my home in a very affluent town in CT

[@origamiXcore]

tony keeps it real, and truthful. what alice waters is doing is simply removing culture. im not saying its not healthy for people to be eating organic its just not always realistic...coming from southern cali (san diego) there is a pattern to where organic food is available...rich areas...unfortunately there are san diego based stores that are all organic but they only appear in places where people can afford it. which proves to me that they only care about the money and not the heath of people.

[@sgenetti77]

Alice Waters is a culinary phenomenon and I agree with her, however, what she proposes isn't economically feasible unless we embrace that dastardly word **gasp** "socialism", which so many are afraid of, for whatever reason. It's funny how the term "social security" never pings the socialism radar yet government interference in things that might matter like the health of it's citizens in terms of the food we eat, healthcare, etc...somehow does. Social Security **IS** an expression of socialism.

[@palittle1082]

You pay up front, or on the backend, but you will pay. The Farm Bill subsidizes corn, soy, and wheat-GMO, btw, subsidizing Monsanto, now Bayer. Waters is talking about a long term solution, not just short term pleasure. Her ultimate vision is transformation of federal, state, and local practices away from corporate intensive monoculture to regenerative organic farming that actually has higher yields per acre according to worldwide studies by the UN. It is a long game.

[@ajlee35]

@ACTINGDRAMA your rant is valid, and some areas are trying to change because of morgan spurlock's book, "don't eat this book" he makes a HUGE point of scolding the money makers of the company for blaming inner cities for their food choices and totally ignoring the fact that most of those neighborhoods, there's very little choice, and few that have cars to seek other sources. so good luck.

[@trainlinezoo]

@henrycate You don't have to give anyone anything just keep being you and enjoy your life. Just keep being YOU.

[@johnniebwalkin]

tony and duff both rule. as far as knowing where my food came from, i grew up broke, we made our cheap food taste good, if we could get it local and organic for the same price great, but we couldnt. my food was about how cheap we could get it to fill our bellys, not if the food was mishandled and grown by your farmer neighbor or not.

[@jeremiahmirkovitz2834]

Duff Goldman you're not Kevin Smith

[@joerexlily]

robzombay alice did make most of the right choices, had the courage of her conviction and created a semi masterpiece -- have you ever eaten there?

[@playing0cards]

I agreed w/ Bourdain's point about organic food. They may be willing to pay extra for it but people on tight budgets got to eat too. The main reason I even learned how to cook myself was because I could save money by making my own crap. Water's stance on organic/local food in schools has merits but considering the short term mentality of America in general, it just isn't realistic. Who's willing to double school food budgets if they have to pay higher tolls or taxes?

[@cumap1]

"they're lining up not because of the healthy food, they're lining up because of the fucking 99 cent." WELL SAID!!! That's if the fact of life and Alice seemed to forget.

[@lucybug72]

I love anyone, man or woman, who can use the word FUCK properly. GO TONY!

[@792lkuhn]

lets feed every single child in school breakfast lunch and an afternoon snack ,for free and feed them reel food. Waters is absolutely right 1 in 2 children will get diebeates. people its time for some change what we really need to is we need to start working on making real food affordable.

[@jlq3d3]

First, unless you lied on your policy, I don't see why you imply your insurance would be rescinded. Second, I'd rather not have a system where I pay for your healthcare. Third, there are no studies showing that eating organic beef lowers healthcare costs.

[@StoryeTime]

Tony, organic is NOT new! Organic used to be the way farmers and people used to grow their crop etc Alice Waters is so right on about paying up front or up back!

[@cumap1]

Hey, I praise for your success, but hopefully you don't think that we all should, must follow or adhere to your foot steps. Keep it to yourself and respect others choices.

[@121sj]

@Natehc1984 4sure i agree with u and her... which is why i say its sad... its the whole system that has to change....

[@ligeiro6620]

They should post the part where Alice say that her death row meal is shark-fin soup hahaha... so much for her ideals

[@TheDiverpro]

Anthony Bourdain has a point. People can't afford healthy organic food. Whole Foods Markets are good, but they collectively bump up prices that people can't afford. I'm just a poor student and if you expect me to run to WFs every time I have a craving for beef and pay out the wazoo, you're mistaken. But there IS a fix for all of this... Growing your own food and buying locally! I get 1 dozen eggs for $2.75 and a gallon of milk for $3.50 from locals. That's way cheaper than Wally World and WFs!

[@HunterMann]

@cumap1 99 cents is affordable for that moment, but the price they pay for bad health later on outweighs the assumed savings. The problem is that many of the poor people eating poorly can not do the math, or simply do not have access to goos food where they live. Hey Trader Joes & Whole Foods: If you really, truly want people to eat well, why don't you put some of your stores in areas where the good food is most needed? Oh, and W.F. can/should drop their prices...absolutely stupid pricing.

[@amarantaviera]

Waters isn't stupid. She's just got a very specific vision. A bit humorless? Yes. But she's a tremendous chef.

[@Maxdwolf]

@sexlessparents As someone who is also broke as hell, I have to make note that most fast food is more expensive than food you pick up at the store and cook yourself. Now if you buy a lot of fresh veggies, that'll raise the cost per calorie significantly.

[@frdrcksncn]

IN terms of stuff we eat, I don't care if it's healthy or not, it's about moderation. A bit of pork knuckles/mcdonalds once a week or two wouldn't hurt. And like what everyone is saying, who has the money to pay for organic products, or read the ingredients on the package, or ask purveyor etc where the food comes from??

[@DannyMcCaffrey]

High quality food in the US has become a luxury - it shoudn't have, but it has. Until US culture changes and demands more - the food we used to eat, and europe markets still have for cheap - will be "Organic" produce for rich folks.

[@compactdisk2]

@SuperJoshman420 Weeell, that depends. If you were living in London's east end 100 years ago, you were also deformed from malnutrition and crippled from over work by your late teens.

[@myungsubie]

let's feed every child the best food possible. i am 100% behind that idea. who is going to paid for it. ALICE?

[@SeattleBlythe]

Yep, a good street edge is very attractive in a man as long as he is smart and successful.

[@kirastus]

A message to Subroto, if my comment on her hypocrisy offends you, I do apologise. But given that the woman's deathrow meal is a shark fin soup, perhaps she should not be going on about the source of food and all those ethnical issues.

[@meknewxenu]

Go Tony! Alice is insane! I love what Anthony Bourdain said about this and Alice Waters in his new book Medium Raw.

[@HoundOfDoom]

Let's feed all those kids for free. Um, nothing is for free lady. Don't these kids have parents?

[@WordWoman111]

In one of the wealthiest countries in the world, why is feeding children for free a burden? It should be understood. That and free education is how we invest in our future.

[@trainlinezoo]

Do you have a better idea? Is the current system working? Are there or are there not millions of kids who go to school hungry, under-clothed, exhausted from stress? What exactly is your idea? Give the cash to thieves and wonder why it disappears? Just curious. Alaska and Newfoundland both practice what I stated and neither have any debt. Their kids learn to save resources and graduate with nice nest eggs - not mountains of discouraging debt.

[@ficklemcpickle]

They both make good points. Bourdain is just more entertaining. We should be subsidizing good organic food, but until then, I'm going to buy what I can afford. I try to eat organic as much as I can, but sometimes I have to compromise. Although the dreck that the big food corps put into what they call "food", makes it nearly inedible to me. I'm also a vegetarian, but if it came down to it, I would eat meat to survive. And I don't begrudge anyone the right to eat as they see fit.

[@johnniebwalkin]

ya im sure your hotdog vendor knows where it came from. rich people have no idea

[@Madmoves1]

Organic and locavore movement is far more hazardous to the environment than conventional farming. Organic requires up to 2-3x the resources and land for the same yield. Regarding the locavore movement - ponder this, is shipping 500 lbs of apples farmed mechanically 60 miles to a greenmarket less energy intensive than a million pounds of bananas farmed by hand shipped in from costa rica?

[@zeldasmith6154]

She may have imposter syndrome. If a choice between him and Alice coming out of the kitchen and going to the bar to have a shift drink and I was there, I would choose Anthony. Hands down.

[@HunterMann]

@mhirtes12 Tony rides in more limos than Alice, if you wanna talk lifestyles...

[@Woahlookitthemoon]

3:58 Anthony Bourain backpedals.

[@HunterMann]

@kasou01 Well, even the organic, free-range chicken sausages are still in pork casings... grrrross!

[@DSLCactus]

It's almost as if Alice Waters didn't listen to anything Tony Bourdain said at the end there...THREE organic meals a DAY for FREE? Hell most public schools in America can barely afford textbooks, let alone healthy food.

[@DrevPile]

Imposible

[@marjoriejohnson6535]

Been eating organic farm and wild till now. In my old age I Ave no control and the food sucks.

[@GlendaMarx]

Unfortunately, the "organic" industry is considered a luxury in some parts of USA, Educate yourself, make your own meals, do not use can products, IF you can , grow your own produce, Decrease your intake of milk and meat products. Yes, live a little, eat a slice of pizza or a hot dog, but don't do it every week ! organic is TOO expensive for the mid American income, are u kiddin me! Bourdain is right....

[@artistsandbox]

priding yourself about shopping based on food sourcing is a pastime of the wealthy

[@appppppppple]

@Natehc1984 your argument is a bit non sequitur. Yes, what you stated about government subsidies is relatively true, but i don't see the relevance to what bourdain said. His argument was roughly that organic food was more expensive than processed food therefore people buy it more. Your argument is roughly organic food is more expensive because government subsidies so bourdain is incorrect. your comprehension skills worry me....

[@jlq3d3]

Let Alice Waters pay for my grass fed beef.

[@brianinsanfran]

Alice Waters is so out of touch with what's going on in the world. Her stupid Slow Food garden in San Francisco was such a waste of money. I'm so resentful about it still. It cost so much money and didn't produce anything but a smug attitude how much good were doing in S.F. So gross.

[@binder38us]

This is why Anthony Bourdain: he gets through the BS and to the crux of the issue. Thank you Anthony for representing the normal people..and OMG socialism...OH PLEASE. You think tax payers want to expand the lunch program? KIDS hate it. It has a stigma. This is what happens on the far side of the any political spectrum: total disconnect with reality

[@obrouillet]

Anthony Bourdain wake up. You are what you eat. Every single bites shape the future of our planet. Instant gratification is killing us. Be an ethical Bon vivant.

[@artsmith1972]

Alice Water's ideas are great in a warm and fuzzy everything could be perfect utopian world... unfortunately having all meat, produce, fruits, dairy products etc etc be all organic, small farm raised is not only really freakin expensive- but it doesnt realistically address the volume of food that has to be grown,raised, butchered etc etc to meet the hundreds of millions of people who eat in the USA alone every day.... Free three meals a day for school kids ? who's gonna pay for that !! ? ?

[@Kasou01]

I certainly dont want to know where my sausage are coming from, I only want to think it as beef or chicken sausage. that's it. I dont need any information about any other parts of those animals are used on my sausage.

[@marjoriejohnson6535]

On the soap box with Alice..

[@fredwu5965]

AB crashed AW...is it delicious that's all it matters.

[@davidgoldin5759]

Who the hell is duff Goldman.

[@pianification]

By 2050, there's gonna be 9 million people in the world....i don't think farms can handle that...hope so, but i'm not sure.... Also, this "healthy choices" are expensive, I know cause once in a while a buy organic food. I totally understand why is expensive, how much it costs for it to be produced, but i can't afford it everyday....

[@DrevPile]

Impossible

[@Cuyt24]

@MrZebraZombie really? Do you come from a working class background? My mom was a single mom, she could never afford fruits, much less organic fruit. I have my own money now and I can afford to go whole foods and by organic fruit. But my mom just wanted to put food on the table and feed all 5 of us kids.

[@BboyFranki3]

Alice whooped Bourdains Ass. Im a chef in Brooklyn and its literally impossible to pitch a $3 tomato over a $1 tomato to a restaurant owner in the red. But because of alices work and the ideas shes communicated sustainable organic and local food have more ammunition in the market place. And people are becoming more inclined to buy the more expensive meal because it is local organic and in season. Alice has real working ideas and a path toward healthy progress.

[@hellavadeal]

Home grown is best. To hell with monsanto.

[@lycheens]

Love the look on Bourdain's face as she just goes on and on repeating herself... "Where the buns come from," srsly? Then as he gives a reasonable argument about the role of chefs and how economics influences food she implies that he was going on too long.

[@tdintal]

waters' utopia vs bourdain's real world....bourdain wins!

[@HunterMann]

Watch Bourdain from 5:26 to 5:47. He is in serious nicotine withdrawal. Hey, I like the guy, he makes me laugh, he's a brilliant wordsmith, but I often wonder why a man whose career is built around food, and tasting/enjoying it...that he smokes cigarettes. Surely the man is smarter than that. "More salt please!"

[@Natehc1984]

Bourdain's argument makes little sense. Yes, organic food is expensive, but it is only that way because the government subsidizes fast food. If we stopped doing that, we would have much healthier people. Also, there are farmers groups all across the third world switching to organic simply becasue non organic food isn't penciling out for them. Every year they have to buy more fertilizer, and every year they have to pump more water to their farms. Non-organic doesn't make financial sense.

[@ItsSomeDeadGuy]

Tony is hilarious. Duff is insanely intelligent. Alice is... really out of touch.

[@TxVoodoo_]

Alice Waters has high ideals...which are COMPLETELY unrealistic. The burgeoning diabetes stats are due more to HFCS in everything than someone's tomato coming from California. She is part of the problem, and Bourdain nailed it-she's fetishized Organic Food, so instead of veggies being cheap & ubiquitous, they're luxury items. That ISN'T the way to get them on everyone's plate. Yes, people should eat their tomatoes, & green beans & spinach & everything else - but it doesn't have to be organic.

[@121sj]

Its very sad to watch this women speak bc what she is saying is true... yes I want to know where my food comes from but at the end of the day when i work and I am a college student and I have bills to pay and I try to make healthy choices for myself....then when i look in my pocket and all i have is a 5$ bill and i havent eaten all day then i really dont have much of a choice... I wonder if I can call her up and have her pay for my breakfast lunch and afternoon snack............

[@DannyBoy443]

@mazatleko100 Good luck with that. I think she just needs a date.

[@amw1978dc]

Her speech is so weird.

[@reighngold]

This woman just doesn't want to listen does she. She is so idealist she doesn't realize the shit she talks about just is not POSSIBLE for the people she wants to talk about. Oh yeah and Duff.. YOU AREN'T A CHEF YOU'RE A BAKER!!

[@oldtiedyeman]

Let's look at the nuts and bolts of that fantasy this lady has beautifully woven. We the taxpayer will shell out more money to schools who will just spend it on a football program. The school administrator who decides what is served and what is NOT served in the schools will shit can all these wonderfull ideas because he owns a lot of stock in the company that supplies the school lunchrooms with crap food. The entire school system needs a cleaning out from the TOP DOWN.

Organic Food is no better for you than conventional food. It's a great myth that organic is better. There's no science to back up her organic claims that organic is better. It's total BS. The average family cannot afford to eat the way Alice Water's suggests. Duff is an idiot. The Plague didn't come from sewage. It came from fleas that were on rats. When the population of cats increased the plague declined. What an idiot Duff is. He's a fool. Anthony is completely correct. Waters is also stupid.

[@DyeTyme]

psst... nothing is for free

[@tarantism]

@MrZebraZombie lol...telling bourdain to learn to cook

[@Conway20]

@ACTINGDRAMA There are many people who are working tirelessly everyday to bring good produce, and local products to inner city areas. There are many non-profit organizations that promote urban and community gardening, all attempting to bring proper nutrition to lower income areas. The changes they talk about are coming. Also, to be honest, organic is a really overrated term. It costs a ton to become an organically certified farm so many small farms just as good cant afford the certification.

[@ItsSomeDeadGuy]

Nice socialism you have there.

[@tolvis12]

wasn't pol pot an organic gardening advocate too?

[@Cuyt24]

@MrZebraZombie You are very elitist to look down on people who eat shitty food. My mom bought hamburger helper. She bought the cheapest ground beef. Where I grew up there were no farmer markets or was a small town. We had Wal-Mart, that was it. My mother was not a " lazy ass", All of us kids never ate anything organic and we all turned out to be healthy, non obese people.

[@benficaforlife1]

I think Bourdain rips this broad apart in his book.

[@rusticulator08]

BOOOORING!

[@AS-lo6xo]

Considering he's killed himself (RIP), maybe he wouldn't have felt all the sorrow and pain that led him to suicide and depression if he were more health-conscious. Feeding into the pleasures of the world i.e. drugs, sex, alcohol, unhealthy food, etc doesn't necessarily provide a positive outcome. Food for thought.

[@nickstoli]

Hope this doesn't sound mean, but...the difference between Bourdain and Waters is, Bourdain is intelligent, Waters thinks she is. Holla.

[@DrevPile]

Imposible