There was an article in the one of the local papers here, I think it was by one of the food critics. He had the opportunity to hang out with Guy Fieri for a while. He did not want to like the guy, thinks his image is silly, etc.
He wound up enjoying himself and said that Guy’s personality was pretty much what you see on his show; yeah he talks like that and dresses like that but that’s really him and he’s a genuinely nice person and it was hard not to have a good time.
Guy’s shtick is NOT real because we know his name isn’t Fieri. Well, now it’s Fieri since he changed it when he got married. To his paternal great-grandfather’s name. That is the extent of his Italian-ness. All you see is sprayed on douche.
Guy’s shtick IS real because that spray on went deep. His wife and children are Fieri and the last time I saw his son Hunter, he was about 8 or 9 and was one of his dad’s other cooking shows with his hair tips bleached and spiked.
The best thing I ever saw was Guy and Mathew McConaughey palling it up in McConaughey’s kitchen with Guy’s douchiness perfectly complimenting McConaughey’s dudeness. Like a match made in purgatory. They are apparently best buds and I can see them naked bong and bongo-ing together.
What I am not seeing is how anybody, especially Bourdain himself, sees any material difference between the two of them. They both go on TV and talk about food. Both of them have carefully crafted public personae calculated to appeal to their target audiences. Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern, whose TV persona was little more than a sideshow geek, have quite the mutual admiration society…but Fierri is not up to Bourdain’s lofty standards? I think the actual heart of the issue here is that smug asshole Bourdain is actually starting to think of himself as a Deep Thinker and a Serious Writer. Fierri is an easy target for Bourdain’s sarcasm, but the fact remains they both get paid to talk about other people’s cooking.
Food Network is on at the gym and DDD is seemingly ALWAYS on. I am generally ambivalent towards Guy Fieri but I had to laugh when he said, “With a name like Fieri, you know I know good Italian food!”
… despite the fact that Fieri is a made-up name!
As mentioned just two posts ago, Fieri was his great-grandfather’s name. GGF changed it to Ferry when he came to this country.
Gah! Why would you put bad-crying-Interstellar-guy and that giant oompa-loompa into my brain and now they’re all naked with bongos you evil person you.
I think my irony meter just exploded. If Bourdain were any more of a douche he would have a birthmark that spells out “Massengill”
I can’t remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did the first time I saw this (It’s totally safe for work.):
As long as we get to punch one of them in the face, I’d take either.
I think Fieri feels like he has nothing but his persona and is afraid to drop it.
I can’t fault him on the name change. I am a quarter Italian on my paternal grandmother’s side so my last name doesn’t reflect that, plus her father changed their name when they came over on the boat to something more American. If I wanted to be a celebrity chef I might be tempted to changed my name to the original Italian name, too.
Here’s how I come down on the Bourdain/Fieri scale. (Where is Barney from HIMYM to graph it?)
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I do enjoy the triple D. I end up traveling withe The Fella and we both prefer to not just eat at Dennycrackrdonaldgardenkingilis whenever possible.
The show has been to all over the US. I’ve eaten all but one in Houston and they were all good food. One was great. Two were good.
I’ve been to some in Austin. They were also good. It seems he picks good, real places, mom and pop types, etc. I like those places.
Fieri’s personality is grating: that I will not argue. And (don’t have the cite) that he is homophobic. (Big bleargh and how can you even work in a service industry?)) -
Bourdain is an ass. He likes that about himself. He identifies that way. He is unapologetic. I don’t look for him for restaurant ideas. (I’ve enjoyed his books, certainly, but he doesn’t write cookbooks.) He writes travel books. He makes travel shows. I would love to go to a country with him and eat what he eats with people and what they eat there.
They’re both good in their different ways. I’d rather hang with Bourdain.
I wouldn’t want to eat with Bourdain because of his worship of offal.
I get his point, that the rich took the preferred cuts of meat and the poorer, working class people were forced to use the leftover, less desirable cuts and to make them palatable they evolved techniques such as long cooking and heavy spicing to improve/disguise the flavor.
I also understand how somebody raised on this would sometimes want a touch of down-home traditional cooking that reminds them of their upbringing.
What I cannot understand is why anybody would pay extravagant 3-star prices for food that by definition is not the best cut when they could get better quality for less money (ie I could see trying tripe at a small cheap mom & pop restaurant when you want something interesting and cheap but I can’t see paying filet mignon prices for tripe unless it is some spectacular tripe).
Sure, you can make offal edible and tasty but why not use the same techniques to make tasty cuts even tastier?
My kid was on the same sports team as one of Guy Fieri’s kids a few years ago. He came to some games and hosted the end-of-season pizza party. He was very low key and dressed just like a normal dad in cargo shorts and tshirts or polo shirts. Not warmly friendly in any particular way but definitely not a blowhard or douchebag. His wife was supernice and very friendly however. My point of view is that on TV he is in character and he’s much more of a normal person than you’d think.
You have to pick which ass to hang with. Is that the choice?
If so, I’ll take the higher road and choose Bourdain.
I wouldn’t consider that the high road.
You can just tell that Bourdain knows where the good weed is, in every city he goes to. 
+1, or 2 or 3?. Still reading the thread. Bourdain is full of himself and smug, which I think is worse than Fieri’s doucheness.
Yeah, I guess. Except Bourdain never has much to say about these foreign lands beyond “Gawrsh! Things sure are different here from back home and I feel vaguely guilty for being from the USA.” Fuck him.
Because a lot of offal actually is tasty. Different strokes and all that, but that’s part of why I’d like to hang with him–he likes the weird cuts like I do.
For what’s it worth, “Fieri” actually is the Italian plural form of the adjective, “proud”…My uber geekiness had to get it out there.