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Original poster

Look what Anthony Bourdain is doing to his daughter

72 replies

Bessie123 · 15/06/2010 09:33

here

This is vile. And it begs the question how is 2 and a half year old daughter even knows about mcdonalds happy meals if he has never given them to her.

Don't get me wrong, I would certainly never feed my dd mcdonalds but I am that he would traumatise a small child in that way, and congratulate himself on it.

What do you reckon?

OP posts:
Original poster
Bessie123 · 15/06/2010 10:31

no, I don't tend to read my dd stories like that. But if I did, I imagine I would read them in a way as to amuse my 2.5 yr old dd, rather than terrify and distress her.

OP posts:
flockwallpaper · 15/06/2010 10:35

I'm with chil1234, I thought it was quite funny. He probably doesn't really do those things, it's just attention seeking journalism.

anyabanya · 15/06/2010 10:35

I find the article horrifying in the tactics used. As others have said... what happens when his daughter realises she has been cynically manipulated and lied to by her parents?

Also... what happens in the not too distant future when one of her friends has a birthday party at McDonalds, and she freaks out thinking they are all going to be abducted?

I forsee serious psychological issues for this poor child.

senua · 15/06/2010 10:36

What a strange article (well, what I read of it, don't like his ideas nor writing 'style' ...) He is depicting MacD's as the worst that can befall mankind (although I presume that they have to pass some sort of food regulations) yet was happy to pump illegal drugs into himself "for the better part of 25 years". He seems to have gone from one extreme to another.

He will learn, too late, that the more forbidden something is, the more kids want it.

CatIsSleepy · 15/06/2010 10:37

erm, i thought it was quite a jokey article/extract actually

i don't think for a minute he'll put a chocolate-coated barbie's head in a McDonalds box to give to his daughter

he's a chef, he may or may not be a bit of a twat, he cares about the provenance of food, McD's is junk food, he doesn't want his daughter to eat junk....blah blah

of course he doesn't realise yet that he's only going to make fast food more enticing if he keeps going on about it to the poor little mite but honestly I do think there is a touch of hyperbole here and nothing to get too het up about

Magdelena · 15/06/2010 10:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

flockwallpaper · 15/06/2010 10:39

Don't take it seriously, honestly. This guy has a dark sense of humour, as you would after many drug fueled years working in restaurant kitchens.

racingheart · 15/06/2010 11:13

Agree with flock. Don't believe him. He's joking about saying those things outside her door. He's just making a forceful point in journalism to get people to discuss the topic and he's succeeded here!

Original poster
Bessie123 · 15/06/2010 11:16

how do you know he is joking? it doesn't sound like it

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flibbertigibbert · 15/06/2010 11:21

I was when I read this, and I really hope he is joking.

He's setting his daughter up for a lot of issues in the future, and he's only going to make McDonalds seem more glamourous and exciting. I think it's far better to let her have a McDonalds once a month or so if she really wants it than to turn it into a big deal.

LadyBiscuit · 15/06/2010 11:24

Have you ever read any of his books? He has a very sick sense of humour. I do agree with him that there is something vile in the idea that the best treat that children can aspire to is a load of mechanically obtained offcuts. Bleugh

I used to work in a burger place and I stank constantly. Vile.

ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave · 15/06/2010 11:27

I don't know he's joking, but it does sound like it to me.

Firstly because it's the kind of silly conversation DH and I have had about random bugbears in relation to the children -- for example he grew up with a very horsey sister and their family life gradually got overtaken by horses, so he would really prefer that our DCs don't get into horses. When I was pregnant and DS was small we used to have silly conversations about "how to condition small children against horses" taking the "how to condition small children against books and flowers" scene from Brave New World as a starting point and then riffing on that to come up with more and more wildly inappropriate ideas. Very silly, not in front of the children, and not something we'd even have considered actually doing (also not something we'd have written up to put in a book or newspaper, admittedly). In fact DS has a mild interest in horses that we've encouraged so far as is practical given that we live in London and don't have money to burn. This passage reads to me quite like one of those sort of silly rants.

Secondly because he's not a single parent -- there is a mother involved and most of what he's describing would involve two parents cooperating. I think it's (stereotyping madly) less likely that a mother who was also the primary caregiver would go along with any of this stuff for real, and also just statistically unlikely that a child would have two otherwise reasonable parents who saw nothing wrong with terrifying a toddler about child abductors.

I may quite possibly be wrong, and Bourdain is a bit of a git either way, but to me this sounds like a big over-dramatised piss-take.

CatIsSleepy · 15/06/2010 11:31

honestly bessie
he's having a larf
whether or not you find it funny is another issue

I believe he's serious about hating McD's but I do think there is the teeniest possibility of exaggerating for comic effect

shocking, i know, and to be discouraged at all times, but of course! but these crazy chefs, y'know....

nowherewoman · 15/06/2010 11:32

He should go back on the skag

sarah293 · 15/06/2010 11:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

TheBoyWithaSORNedMX5 · 15/06/2010 11:47

He's quite Will Self-ish, isn't he. And if he hadn't mentioned his heroin habit I'd have guessed.

The impression I get is that he's probably a bit of an arse (and I quite like people who can be a bit of an arse), but I don't in all honesty think he's being serious.

I like what he says about Jamie Oliver and the coke snorting trannies. I think he has a point, there.

mrsshackleton · 15/06/2010 11:48

I had the gross misfortune to have lunch with Bourdain once

He is a big-headed arse

I hoped fatherhood might have change him, but nope it's just made him an even bigger arse

Original poster
Bessie123 · 15/06/2010 11:48

because that's what gordon ramsey is alleged to do?

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Original poster
Bessie123 · 15/06/2010 11:49

sorry, my post was re the coke-snorting trannies.

MrsShackleton why were you having lunch with him?

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StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 15/06/2010 11:56

Good lord - I hope he is joking in this article - otherwise what he is doing to his daughter is incredibly sick and twisted.

Surely it is far more effective to bring his daughter up enjoying delicious, high-quality food, made with good ingredients, and teaching her to enjoy preparing food too - give her a good relationship with food, and the knowledge to make sensible choices when she's older.

Not mindgames and manipulation - if he really is doing that, he is risking causing long term damage to her - just look at some of the stories on the 'Petty things that still irritate me' thread in chat to see how a single hurtful or cruel remark can resound down the years.

mrsshackleton · 15/06/2010 11:56

Work thing

He was not interested in anyone at the table except himself. Very ungracious man

Original poster
Bessie123 · 15/06/2010 12:02

I heard from another chef I met that he was a complete nobjockey, really up himself.

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TheBoyWithaSORNedMX5 · 15/06/2010 12:11

Bessie I'd not heard that rumour about Gordon Ramsay. I could just imagine many of the chefs I've known doing the same, given half the chance.

Original poster
Bessie123 · 15/06/2010 12:15

It was on holy moly some time ago.

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stripeyknickersspottysocks · 15/06/2010 12:17

So he's an ex junkie?

I guess he thinks its ok to inject heroin but a few french fries are worse than that. How warped.