Bourdain ain’t no celebrity chef

Anthony Bourdain

He counts among his friends some of the greatest chefs alive. But he also knows they would never give him a job - well, at least not a job that involved him going anywhere near the vegies.

"Tetsuya [Wakuda], [Gordon] Ramsay - they're all heroes of mine," says Anthony Bourdain, the rock'n'rolling, former drug-taking chef, who is better known for his books and television series than his cooking.

"But they are all gentlemen who would never have hired me. Instead I get to eat in their kitchen and gossip with them," he laughs.

Bourdain is coming to New Zealand next May as part of Savour New Zealand, a celebration of local food and wine held in Christchurch, featuring some of the best cooks here and from overseas.

Bourdain will give two one-hour classes as well as chair a discussion session during which industry professionals can expand upon what he calls their "pet peeves".

It is perhaps the latter to which he is most suited. Bourdain came to popular attention with his first book, Kitchen Confidential, which lifted the lid on the seamy culinary underbelly, which included lots of cocaine, alcohol, sex and punch-ups - as well as Bourdain's own drug addiction.

This was followed by two other novels, both thrillers, and a television series. During the telly show, A Cook's Tour, Bourdain gets to travel around the world acting tough and eating both interestingly exotic and indescribably horrible dishes; still-beating heart of a live cobra was on one unforgettable menu.

At one stage there was even talk of a movie with Hollywood star Brad Pitt to play Bourdain's part. The idea is instead being transformed into a television series by Darren Star, responsible for Sex & the City.

"I constantly have to pinch myself," Bourdain says now.

"There is no question that I would ever set the world on fire with my cooking. I wouldn't - at best I'm a journeyman brasserie cook. But I never thought I'd be sweating in a jungle in Vietnam, getting to do whatever I wanted [on camera].

" Basically, I'm an enthusiastic eater and writer - which makes it even more ludicrous when I'm welcomed by some of the best chefs around the world."

Whatever you do, don't describe him as a celebrity chef.

"I hate the term," Bourdain says. "It's like jumbo shrimp. Or military intelligence. Two words which should never go together."

One description Bourdain doesn't mind quite as much is "gastro-punk" - it makes him laugh.

"I suppose I'm a gastro-punk in the sense that I really don't give a shit. Mainly because I don't have a reputation to protect," says the reformed drug addict.

"I've also been called the bad boy of chefs but to be honest I'm not all that bad anymore. I don't think anybody expects me to morph into Nigella Lawson or something more respectable now."

Soon Bourdain will be telling tales about this country. He has never been here, but having sampled cheeses and fresh oysters from New Zealand in the past, he is looking forward to visiting.

And after his Savour visit he thinks he will be back again later next year to film segments of a new television series, again aimed at the culinary traveller.

Then after all of that madness, he has something completely different and more peaceful in mind. Bourdain will be relocating to a small Vietnamese fishing village to write his next book.

"I love the Vietnamese. They're proud cooks and proud eaters and have the best food per square foot of country.

"I've been very lucky and I'm going to take advantage of that for as long as I can.

"At any moment," he laughs, "it could all go terribly wrong and I could end up having to cook [for a living] again.

"Luckily that's not a prospect I am at all uncomfortable with."