# Now, Mario Batali **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2017, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-mario-batali/804196 "2017-12-11T14:43:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BuckChongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@BuckChongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckChongo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-mario-batali/804196/21 "2017-12-11T23:36:51Z")
He’s a bad boy but a damn good cook, plays a big part in my recurring Italian food fantasies… ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-mario-batali/804196/22 "2017-12-12T02:28:23Z")
As someone who knew Batali only from occasional guest appearances on other people’s cooking shows, I’d somehow gotten the impression that he was gay and happily partnered. There’s some douche who ran around in Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz type red sneakers and regularly had hissy-fit type tantrums in the early seasons (I looked it up–the guy’s name is Joe(?) Bastianich) that I thought Batali was in a relationship with. Apparently they’re just business partners though. Huh. So Batali is straight and a scumbucket. Y’learn something new every day. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-mario-batali/804196/23 "2017-12-12T11:31:02Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I’m very mildly surprised at this one, but hardly shocked. It’s a stereotype that successful head chefs of a certain generation tend to be ego-driven to a ridiculous degree, but one that seems to have a real kernel of truth. Just as with successful politicians and entertainers they tend to have a lot of authority in their own little spheres of influence and some of them are bound to abuse it. The ONLY thing that might prevent a flood of similar complaints to start spilling out of the restaurant-sphere would be the still somewhat limited pentration of women into that kinda macho world. But still I’d suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg. All stereotypes start with a kernel of truth. Writing about it is what made Anthony Bourdain what he is today. Exaggerating it is why Gordon Ramsay has a reality series based around it. Bobby Flay displays the machismo involved whenever he does Iron Chef or his own “Beat Bobby Flay” show. Chefs, in general, are very athletic, very competitive types, and that historical “machismo” involved with such types is why the stereotype exists. Not all chefs are like this, of course, but enough of them are to warrant the stereotype. Couple that competitive machismo with the sustained stress of running a kitchen (more so if it’s “known”) and you have the ingredients of such an accusation. I’ve always adored Batali. I’ve always learned something from him whenever I’ve watched him. However, I can’t help thinking of Bill Buford’s _Heat_ which is about him working for free in the Babbo kitchen. There’s a passage in there of two male sous chefs making lewd remarks about a B or C cup breast equaling particular measurements. Buford observes the scene and is taken quite aback. The female sous chef is deeply embarrassed. Buford senses this and makes it a point to stick by her. Both of the male sous eventually leave as the story continues, One fails badly running his own kitchen and the other burns out. At the close the female sous is still there. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-mario-batali/804196/24 "2017-12-12T15:39:37Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Not much to say really, but I agree with him about the bankers…for the most part. But I’m assuming you don’t own multiple businesses that depend on those same bankers spending huge amounts of money in them. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-mario-batali/804196/25 "2017-12-12T16:49:37Z")
I used to watch Molto Mario back in the day. Apparently that show ended in 2004. I didn’t know Mario Batali was still on TV. I liked his cooking, but never considered him a “celebrity chef” on the level of Bobby Flay or Emeril Lagasse. He always seemed like the biggest snob, though, and I watched his show in spite of his off-putting personality rather than because of it. So had I remembered he still existed, I wouldn’t have been too surprised by this either. I don’t like considering which chefs I actually _like_ are going to be outed as assaulters/harassers in the near future though. There’s always Julia Child reruns, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-mario-batali/804196/26 "2017-12-12T17:36:27Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > I don’t like considering which chefs I actually _like_ are going to be outed as assaulters/harassers in the near future though. There’s always Julia Child reruns, I guess. Have you seen the things she does to chickens? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-mario-batali/804196/27 "2017-12-12T17:41:35Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Have you seen the things she does to chickens? Yes. And they’re _delicious._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-mario-batali/804196.md?page=1)