Anthony Bourdain says he would never dine with Donald Trump
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - In this Nov. 23, 2015, file photo, chef and television personality Anthony Bourdain and wife Ottavia Busia attend the premiere of "The Big Short" at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York. Bourdain's representative confirmed reports on Sept, 20, 2016, that the couple has decided to separate. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
Celebrity chef and notorious Guy Fieri detractor Anthony Bourdain may have had a great time slurping noodles and enjoying bun cha with President Barak Obama in Vietnam.
But don’t expect the bad boy chef to break bread with just anyone who aspires to be in the White House.
In a recent interview with The Wrap, when asked if he would ever dine with Donald Trump, Bourdain simply said, “"Absolutely f—ing not.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In June, before Trump had clinched the presidential nomination, Bourdain was singing a different tune. During an interview with the New York Daily News, the chef-turned-author-turned TV host said he’d prefer dining with Trump over his Democrat opponent Hillary Clinton because he wanted to “see him struggle with chopsticks and eat a well done f---- steak."
Now, however, it seems Bourdain is through joking around and sited his deep restaurant industry connections as one of the main reasons for forgoing any type of dining experience with the businessman turned politician.
"I've been a New Yorker most of my life, [and] for better or worse Mr. Trump is a New Yorker. We know him well here. We've watched how he does business and we've watched him say things and then we've seen whether or not he did those things, we have seen how he treats the people he does business with,” Bourdain said. “I would give the same answer that I would have given 10 years ago, when he was just as loathsome.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bourdain also added his two-cents about the state of American politics ahead of the election.
"I've never seen in my lifetime the kind of national conversation that we're actually having in the open now,” Bourdain said and continued, “Eight years ago, if a candidate for a major party was endorsed by the American Nazi Party and the Aryan Nation it's something [major figures] would feel obliged to denounce. Now, that apparently isn't reason enough to say anything."
So is Bourdain willing to break bread with? Rock royalty is apparently acceptable.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“The white whale for me is Keith Richards,” the CNN host told The Wrap. “We’ve been talking for years and had a delightful lunch together talking about a possible show and it is my hope that someday Keith and I will talk about British naval history while enjoying steak and kidney pie, or something.”
Earlier this year, Bourdain caused a stir in Vietnam while dining with the president at a popular local noodle shop in Hanoi. Their dinner appeared in a recently aired episode of “Parts Unknown.”