RENOWNED food author and former chef Anthony Bourdain was interviewed recently at the launch of his upcoming book Medium Raw.

Bourdain,whose books include Kitchen Confidential: Culinary Adventures in the Underbelly and A Cook’s Tour, are must reads for anyone slightly interested in food. He is also a noted champion of the high-quality and ‘deliciousness’ of freshly prepared street food found around the world — especially those of  developing countries — as alternatives to offerings from western fast-food chains (something that this food blog aims to do).

This is what the deity of Culinaria said about food bloggers:

The more the better! I totally disagree with those still crying: ‘They’re not experts.’ When you’re talking about ‘is a restaurant good or not?’ or ‘where should I eat in Saigon?’ – if you read enough bloggers, you will arrive at a reasonable consensus. The old system, where you had lions of food criticism – that was totally corrupt and moribund, just one big clusterfuck of the same people at the same restaurants, using the same adjectives. In the old days, all [a restraurant] had to do was co-opt, coerce, bribe, blow or otherwise flatter a small group of powerful food writers.

Thanks for the encouragement, Anthony.

Anthony Bourdain’s blog can be found at: http://anthony-bourdain-blog.travelchannel.com/