the electric internet

NQN: What are your thoughts on bloggers?

Anthony Bourdain: I think it’s the brave new world. I think it’s a good thing.

NQN: Some people say that bloggers don’t know what we’re talking about.

Anthony Bourdain: I think they’re the people that complain and are the same idiots that were so outraged when Dylan went electric. Who were complaining about the electric guitar, who were complaining about cable televisions. It’s so ludicrous. Like as if somehow bloggers are less qualified. Less qualified than what? A bunch of old duffers that hate what they’re doing? That are trying to find a way to write the same damn article for 30 years. Who have been getting backhanders and basically blowing each other for years. I think the bloggers are welcome. It’s a brave new world. It’s going to take time for some of the chefs to get used to but it almost doesn’t matter what I think or what anyone thinks because that is the future and I have to say that I’m pretty happy with it because it could hardly be worse than the way that it was.

NQN: Do you read any food blogs?

Anthony Bourdain: I do, I read a lot of them.

NQN: Which ones?

Anthony Bourdain: I read Eater, Grub Street in New York, Regina Schrambling’s Gastropoda and Cooking For Assholes is wonderful – that’s a really great one. And whenever we are planning a show whether its in Vietnam or Peru or anywhere we go the first place that we’re looking at is local food bloggers. You’ve got people that are doing nothing but blogging on street food in Saigon. What major news outlet could do that? There are people chronicling every noodle joint in Hong Kong that’s valuable resource. So that’s pretty awesome and there’s room for everybody.

I look at the blogosphere like a bathroom wall, anyone can write on and eventually some kind of consensus can be reached. If you spend enough time online you very quickly are able to discern who is talking a lot of shit, who’s a troll, who seems to be someone worth noticing or keeping an eye on. Like every other aspect of entertainment and news it is a rapidly fragmenting thing but it’s also a much more democratic one and it can be vicious that’s true but at least power has been diffused rather than resting on a few balding, liver spotted heads.