The Taste’s Anthony Bourdain Talks Chefs, Cooking on Reality TV

ABC’s primetime cooking show, The Taste, returns for a third season Thursday, December 4, and it’s no surprise considering its can’t-miss recipe: Take one part Top Chef, throw in a pinch of team spirit like that of The Voice, garnish with bold personalities who may or may not have cooking talent, and to finish, let superstar chef Anthony Bourdain do most of the talking.  

For those unaware, the show pits 16 undiscovered competitors against each other who range from trained professional chefs to at-home cooks. They’re all competing to whip up a culinary masterpiece and mold it onto a small spoon for a blind judging. (Hence, “the taste.”) Along the way, Bourdain, and three other foodie mentors/judges (Nigella Lawson, chef Ludo Lefebvre and chef Marcus Samuelsson), recruit the participants onto their teams for coaching, which leads to–of course–drama. Bragging rights go to the mentor whose underling wins the competition. Simple enough, right? 

The upcoming season had casting calls in L.A., Austin, Chicago, Boston and Seattle (You gonna cry New York? You gonna cry?) and a few of our brethren made the cut, giving us even more reasons to watch the madness unfold. To find out what’s in store for us this season, I chatted with The Taste’s now twice Emmy-nominated star, Anthony Bourdain.    

Jon Meyer: The chemistry between the mentors seems jovial and authentic. What’s it like to have chef Marcus Samuelsson on the show?
Anthony Bourdain: I’ve known Marcus for a long time. The opportunity to work with him was a no-brainer. He has the gravitas and the skills and the reputation for the job. He’s a genuinely great guy with a good heart, which makes him a good mentor, leader, teacher and friend. I plan to visit Ethiopia with him on my CNN show [Parts Unknown]. 

JM: You’ve met hundreds of chefs over the years. Is there a common thread that successful chefs share–aside from just a refined palate?
AB: “Chef” means, literally, “chief,” in French. It implies the most important qualities you look for in an enduring talent in the industry: leadership skills, management skills, the ability to teach, guide and mentor people, and to trust them with your investment, your good name.

JM: And what about those chefs who have potential, but can’t seem to pull it together?
AB: Chefs are flawed vessels. The business seems to attract people who are dysfunctional in other work environments–and you get a lot of oddballs. But the most common fatal flaws among people who are lucky enough to be skilled at cooking are inconsistency, bad work habits and egos that don’t allow them to consider what people actually want and need–rather what is likely to impress them. That’s a particularly common error on cooking competitions–particularly among professionals: the urge to dazzle is one’s downfall.

JM: What’s your best advice to those looking to compete on reality cooking shows?
AB:  If you want to get more face time on TV, then by all means get into a fight, yank out somebody’s hair extensions, get some freakishly botched plastic surgery, make a porno, bring the drama. But if you want to win, keep your head down, keep cool, avoid the impulse to create drama for its own sake, cook as best you can.

Particularly on The Taste, we (the judge mentors) are all about the food. None of our team members ever thought that being a “character” was the way to win our affection. We bonded very closely with our cooks. That’s entirely because they cooked their hearts out for us. The meathead professional reality contestants (of whom there are always a few) were weeded out before our teams were even fully assembled.

JM: Cooking on television is not easy. Even on your show No Reservations, it seemed like a few first bites would be delayed a few times. Do you find having to wait can influence your opinion on a dish one way or another?
AB: We are all very aware of the fact that ice cream is not a good option for a TV cooking competition.

JM: What’s one dish from around the world that just thinking about, makes your mouth water?
AB: Borneo-style laksa. LOVE it. I’m a slut for spicy noodles.

JM: Is there a no-fail ingredient for you right now? One that can make even the worst concoction taste palatable?
AB: If it sucks, nothing can disguise that.

JM: Throughout your career, have you ever felt like a master of something, and if so, what?
AB: It was only near the end of my career, in my 40s, that I can honestly say I “mastered” anything in cooking. [It was] the kind of cooking I should have been doing all along: classic, working-class French brasserie/bistro stuff.

JM: In regards to Seattle chefs, other than tattoos, what do you expect them to possess?
AB: Enthusiasm. Gratitude for living in an area of the country with such amazing ingredients.

JM: You covered Seattle in an entertaining episode of The Layover (even properly roasting a former place of employment of mine that I quite enjoyed). What’s something that you can always depend on in this city?
AB: I can and always have counted on a warm welcome in Seattle. It seems sometimes like everybody there is a professional cook. Or maybe it just feels like that to me.

JM: Over the past few years, Seattle has now seen some of its top four or five chefs open multiple restaurants without clear differences, potentially muddling their overall product. Is this just a natural progression? And will it ever change?
AB: It’s a natural progression. Nothing wrong with it. Chefs work hard, suicidally long hours. They make many sacrifices–normal lives and relationships being just two of them. For those who can do it well (and not everyone can), expanding is a natural thing. I think its ridiculous snobbery to insist our chefs die, broken behind the stove, in their fifties. It’s ludicrous to expect your chef to be there for every meal you order. That was never the case.  Remember: chef means “chief.” Leader. Any good chef’s business model is the ability to have a Sunday off or a vacation without his customers ever noticing.

The Taste season three premiere airs Thursday on ABC.

Jon Meyer is a contributor to Seattlemag.com and a local freelance journalist specializing in food and travel. His weekly ‘Tuesday Ten Dolla Hollas’ from around the city and other musings can be found at his website, accidentaleater.com.