Anthony Bourdain

We were shooting what was supposed to be a happy food show in Beirut and ended up getting evacuated by the Marines.

We've certainly shot at some places where anything resembling infrastructure is, you know, not really there.

We kind of joke on the show that, you know, if there's not at least a 50% chance of diarrhea when you eat something, it's almost not worth eating.

Do you have, like, are there certain precautions that you take when you go into these areas, like shots and... Yeah, I mean, we've had the full spectrum there, but honestly, we avoid the hotel breakfast buffet.

That thing is lethal.

Would you say that even in the States?

I would say even that, you know, that sort of forlorn, the shiny ham, the congealed eggs, the, you know, the little, no, that stuff is a, that's a vector.

That's not a meal.

Yeah, if it's more jerky-like than bacon-like, you probably shouldn't be, yeah.

Have you ever been to a place where food was not important to the culture, where it was... It's a bad place, you know, where people are immune to the joys of eating.

And that has nothing to do with budget.

Dependably, the best food, the best times we've had on the road are often in very poor countries where they have very little to work with and they do a lot with it.

Countries that just don't pay attention to food at all.

It's like someone who says to you, I'm not interested in food.

Really not interested.

It's like them saying, I don't like, you know, music.

Right.

And I'm not particularly interested in sex either.

You know, it's just not a...

Not a fan of joy.