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Foie gras ( in English; French for "fat liver") is a food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. This fattening is typically achieved through gavage (force-feeding) corn, according to French law, though outside of France it is occasionally produced using natural feeding. Pâté de foie gras was formerly known as "Strasbourg pie" in English due to that city being a major producer of this food product.

Foie gras is a popular and well-known delicacy in French cuisine. Its flavor is described as rich, buttery, and delicate, unlike that of a regular duck or goose liver. Foie gras is sold whole, or is prepared into mousse, parfait, or pâté (the lowest quality), and may also be served as an accompaniment to another food item, such as steak. French law states that "Foie gras belongs to the protected cultural and gastronomical heritage of France." Another European cuisine employs fattened goose liver almost to the extent as in France; in Hungary, libamáj (lit. 'goose liver') is produced, as in France, both at the small farm and larger commercial levels, and is consumed both plain and in cooking by all levels of society. As with French foie gras, tinned libamáj is exported and can be purchased around Europe and North America.

The technique of gavage dates as far back as 2500 BC, when the ancient Egyptians began keeping birds for food and deliberately fattened the birds through force-feeding. Today, France is by far the largest producer and consumer of foie gras, though it is produced and consumed worldwide, particularly in other European nations, the United States, and the People's Republic of China.

Gavage-based foie gras production is controversial due to the force feeding procedure used. A number of countries and other jurisdictions have laws against force feeding or the sale of foie gras.

History

depiction of overfeeding geese]]

Ancient times

As early as 2500 BC, the ancient Egyptians learned that many birds could be fattened through forced overfeeding and began this practice. Whether they particularly sought the fattened livers of migratory birds as a delicacy remains undetermined. In the necropolis of Saqqara, in the tomb of Mereruka, an important royal official, there is a bas relief scene wherein workers grasp geese around the necks in order to push food down their throats. At the side stand tables piled with more food pellets, and a flask for moistening the feed before giving it to the geese.

The practice of goose fattening spread from Egypt to the Mediterranean. The earliest reference to fattened geese is from the 5th century BC Greek poet Cratinus, who wrote of geese-fatteners, yet Egypt maintained its reputation as the source for fattened geese. When the Spartan king Agesilaus visited Egypt in 361 BC, he was greeted with fattened geese and calves, the riches of Egyptian farmers.

It was not until the Roman period, however, that foie gras is mentioned as a distinct food, which the Romans named iecur ficatum; iecur means liver and ficatum derives from ficus, meaning fig in Latin. The emperor Elagabalus fed his dogs on foie gras during the four years of his chaotic reign. Pliny the Elder (1st century AD) credits his contemporary, Roman gastronome Marcus Gavius Apicius, with feeding dried figs to geese in order to enlarge their livers:

Hence, the term iecur ficatum, fig-stuffed liver; feeding figs to enlarge a goose's liver may derive from Hellenistic Alexandria, since much of Roman luxury cuisine is of Greek inspiration. Ficatum was closely associated with animal liver and it became the root word for "liver" in each of these languages: foie in French, hígado in Spanish, fígado in Portuguese, fegato in Italian and ficat in Romanian, all meaning "liver"; this etymology has been explained in different manners.

Postclassical Europe

After the fall of the Roman empire, goose liver temporarily vanished from European cuisine. Some claim that Gallic farmers preserved the foie gras tradition until the rest of Europe rediscovered it centuries later, but the medieval French peasant's food animals were mainly pig and sheep. Others claim that the tradition was preserved by the Jews, who learned the method of enlarging a goose's liver during the Roman colonisation of Judea or earlier from Egyptians. The Jews carried this culinary knowledge as they migrated farther north and west to Europe. The delicate taste of the goose's liver was soon appreciated; Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof of Kassel wrote in 1562 that the Jews raise fat geese and particularly love their livers. Some Rabbis were concerned that eating forcibly overfed geese violated Jewish food restrictions. The chasam sofer, Rabbi Moses Sofer, contended that it is not a forbidden food (treyf) as none of its limbs are damaged. This matter remained a debated topic in Jewish dietary law until the Jewish taste for goose liver declined in the 19th century. In 1581, Marx Rumpolt of Mainz, chef to several German nobles, published the massive cookbook ''Ein Neu Kochbuch, describing that the Jews of Bohemia produced livers weighing more than three pounds; he lists recipes for it—including one for goose liver mousse. János Keszei, chef to the court of Michael Apafi, the prince of Transylvania, included foie gras recipes in his 1680 cookbook A New Book About Cooking'', instructing cooks to "envelop the goose liver in a calf's thin skin, bake it and prepare [a] green or [a] brown sauce to accompany it. I used goose liver fattened by Bohemian Jews, its weight was more than three pounds. You may also prepare a mush of it."

Main producers

Today, France is by far the largest producer and consumer of foie gras, though it is produced and consumed worldwide, particularly in other European nations, the United States, and China. | 78.5% |- | Hungary | 1,920 | 1.4% |- | Canada | 200 (2005) | 0.9% |- | China | 150 French food companies spice, process, and cook the foie gras so it may be sold as a French product in its domestic and export markets.

Bulgaria produced 1,500 tons of foie gras in 2005;

foie gras entier (whole foie gras), made of one or two whole liver lobes; either cooked (cuit), semi-cooked (mi-cuit), or fresh (frais);

foie gras, made of pieces of livers reassembled together;

bloc de foie gras, a fully-cooked, molded block composed of 98% or more foie gras; if termed avec morceaux ("with pieces"), it must contain at least 50% foie gras pieces for goose, and 30% for duck.

Additionally, there exist pâté de foie gras; mousse de foie gras (both must contain 50% or more foie gras); parfait de foie gras (must contain 75% or more foie gras); and other preparations (no legal obligation established).

Fully cooked preparations are generally sold in either glass containers or metal cans for long-term preservation. Whole, fresh foie gras is usually unavailable in France outside the Christmas period, except in some producers' markets in the producing regions. Frozen whole foie gras sometimes is sold in French supermarkets.

Whole foie gras is readily available from gourmet retailers in Quebec, the United States, Hungary, Argentina and regions with a sizable market for the product. In US, raw foie gras is classified as Grade A, B or C, with Grade A typically being the highest in fat. It is especially suited for low-temperature preparations, because the veins are relatively fewer and the resulting terrine will fit the aesthetic requirement of lacking obvious included blood. Grade B is accepted for high-temperature preparation, because the higher proportion of protein gives the liver more structure after being seared. Grade C livers are generally reserved for making sauces as well as other preparations where the high proportion of blood-filled veins will not impair the appearance of the dish.

Production methods

The physiological basis of foie gras production is migratory birds' capacity for weight gain, particularly in the liver, in preparation for migration. Toulouse geese and Mulard ducks are the most commonly used breeds for foie gras. Mulards are a cross breed between a male Muscovy Duck and a female Pekin duck, and are considered to be about 35% of all ducks consumed in the US. Typical foie gras production involves force-feeding birds more food than they would eat in the wild, and much more than they would voluntarily eat domestically. The feed, usually corn boiled with fat (to facilitate ingestion), deposits large amounts of fat in the liver, thereby producing the buttery consistency sought by the gastronome.

Physiology and preparation

Geese and ducks are omnivorous, and, like many birds, have expansive throats allowing them to store large amounts of food, either whole or pre-digested, in the crop, an enlarged portion of the esophagus, while awaiting digestion in the stomach, similar to python feeding. In the wild this dilation allows them to swallow large foodstuffs, such as a whole fish, for a later, long digestion. Wild geese may consume 300 grams of protein and another 800 grams of grasses per day. Farmed geese allowed to graze on carrots adapt to eat 100 grams of protein, but may consume up to 2500 grams of the carrots per day. A wild duck may double its weight in the autumn, storing fat throughout much of its body and especially on the liver, in preparation for winter migration. Force feeding produces a liver that is six to ten times its ordinary size. Storage of fat in the liver produces steatosis of the liver cells.

The geese or ducks used in foie gras production are usually kept in a building on straw for the first four weeks, then kept outside for some weeks, feeding on grasses. This phase of the preparation is designed to take advantage of the natural dilation capacity of the esophagus. The birds are then brought inside for gradually longer periods while introduced to a high starch diet. The next feeding phase, which the French call gavage or finition d'engraissement, or "completion of fattening", involves forced daily ingestion of controlled amounts of feed for 12 to 15 days with ducks and for 15 to 18 days with geese. During this phase ducks are usually fed twice daily while geese are fed up to 4 times daily. In order to facilitate handling of ducks during gavage, these birds are typically housed in individual cages or small group pens during this phase.

Fattening

In modern production, the bird is typically fed a controlled amount of feed, depending on the stage of the fattening process, its weight, and the amount of feed it last ingested. At the start of production, a bird might be fed a dry weight of of food per day, and up to (in dry weight) by the end of the process. The actual amount of food force-fed is much greater, since the birds are fed a mash whose composition is about 53% dry and 47% liquid (by weight).

The feed is administered using a funnel fitted with a long tube (20–30 cm long), which forces the feed into the animal's esophagus; if an auger is used, the feeding takes about 45 to 60 seconds. Modern systems usually use a tube fed by a pneumatic pump; with such a system the operation time per duck takes about 2 to 3 seconds. During feeding, efforts are made to avoid damaging the bird's esophagus, which could cause injury or death, although researchers have found evidence of inflammation of the walls of the proventriculus after the first session of force-feeding. There is also indication of inflammation of the esophagus in the later stages of fattening. Several studies have also demonstrated that mortality rates can be significantly elevated during the gavage period.

Alternative production

Fattened liver can be produced by alternative methods without gavage, and this is referred to either as "fatty goose liver" or as foie gras (outside France), though it does not conform to the French legal definition, and there is debate about the quality of the liver produced. This method involves timing the slaughter to coincide with the winter migration, when livers are naturally fattened. This has only recently been produced commercially, and is a very small fraction of the market.

While force feeding is required to meet the French legal definition of "foie gras", producers outside of France do not always force feed birds in order to produce fattened livers that they consider to be foie gras, instead allowing them to eat freely, termed ad libitum. Interest in alternative production methods has grown recently due to ethical concerns in gavage-based foie gras production. Such livers are alternatively termed fatty goose liver, ethical foie gras, or humane foie gras, though these latter terms are also used for gavage-based foie gras production that is more concerned with the animal's welfare (using rubber hoses rather than steel pipes for feeding). Others have expressed skepticism at these claims of humane treatment, as earlier attempts to produce fattened livers without gavage have not produced satisfactory results.

More radical approaches have been studied. A duck or goose with a ventromedian hypothalamic (VMH) lesion will not tend to feel satiated after eating, and will therefore eat more than an unaffected animal. By producing such lesions surgically, it is possible to increase the animal's food consumption, when permitted to eat ad libitum, by a factor of more than two.

Preparations

Generally, French preparations of foie gras are over low heat, as fat melts faster from the traditional goose foie gras than the duck foie gras produced in most other parts of the world. American and other New World preparations, typically employing duck foie gras, have more recipes and dish preparations for serving foie gras hot, rather than cool or cold.

In Hungary, goose foie gras traditionally is fried in goose fat, which is then poured over the foie gras and left to cool; it also is eaten warm, after being fried or roasted, with some chefs smoking the foie gras over a cherry wood fire.

In other parts of the world foie gras is served in exotic dishes such as foie gras sushi rolls, in various forms of pasta or alongside steak tartare or atop a steak as a garnish.

Cold preparations

Traditional low-heat cooking methods result in terrines, pâtés, parfaits, foams and mousses of foie gras, often flavored with truffle, mushrooms or brandy such as cognac or armagnac. These slow-cooked forms of foie gras are cooled and served at or below room temperature.

In a very traditional form of terrine, au torchon ("in a towel"), a whole lobe of foie is molded, wrapped in a towel and slow-cooked in a bain-marie. For added flavor (from the Maillard reaction), the liver may be seared briefly over a fire of grape vine clippings (sarments) before slow-cooking in a bain-marie; afterwards, it is pressed served cold, in slices.

Raw foie gras is also cured in salt ("cru au sel"), served slightly chilled.

Hot preparations

Given the increased internationalization of cuisines and food supply, foie gras is increasingly found in hot preparations not only in the United States, but in France and elsewhere. Duck foie gras ("foie gras de canard") has slightly lower fat content and is generally more suitable in texture to cooking at high temperature than is goose foie gras ("foie gras d'oie"), but chefs have been able to cook goose foie gras employing similar techniques developed for duck, albeit with more care.

Raw foie gras can be roasted, sauteed, pan-seared (poëllé) or (with care and attention), grilled. As foie gras has high fat content, contact with heat needs to be brief and therefore at high temperature, lest it burn or melt. Optimal structural integrity for searing requires the foie gras to be cut to a thickness between 15 and 25 mm, resulting in a rare, uncooked center. Some chefs prefer not to devein the foie gras, as the veins can help preserve the integrity of the fatty liver. It is increasingly common to sear the foie gras on one side only, leaving the other side uncooked. Practitioners of molecular gastronomy such as Heston Blumenthal of the Fat Duck restaurant first flash-freeze foie gras in liquid nitrogen, with the searing process resulting in a piece at room temperature.

Hot foie gras requires minimal spices; typically black pepper, paprika (in Hungary) and salt. It has become fashionable in 3-star restaurants to use artisanal coarse salt to provide a visual and textural garnish.

Accompaniments

is traditionally considered a classic match for foie gras in southwest France. In southwest France, Sauternes or Jurançon is traditionally chosen. cranberry jelly or Oriental chutney, venison steaks, focaccia bread, parsnip chips and celeriac remoulade, maple syrup, jellied beef, root vegetables, horseradish cream, and with Paupiette of Squab, morels and crawfish.

Foie gras is also served with filet mignon, grilled duck, apricots, mashed potatoes, shrimp, spinach salad, raisins, and poached apples.

Consumption

Foie gras is a luxury dish. In France, it is mainly consumed on special occasions, such as Christmas or New Year's Eve réveillon dinners, though the recent increased availability of foie gras has made it a less exceptional dish. In some areas of France foie gras is eaten year-round.

Duck foie gras is the slightly cheaper

Controversy

Gavage-based foie gras production is controversial, due to the force feeding procedure, and the possible health consequences of an enlarged liver.

A number of countries and other jurisdictions have laws against force feeding or the sale of foie gras due to how it is traditionally produced. In modern gavage-based foie gras production, force feeding takes place 12−18 days before slaughter. The duck or goose is typically fed a controlled amount of corn mash through a tube inserted in the animal's cuticle-lined esophagus.

Foie gras production has been banned in nations such as some members of the European Union, Turkey, and Israel because of the force-feeding process. Foie gras producers maintain that force feeding ducks and geese is not uncomfortable for the animals nor is it hazardous to their health.

The city of Chicago banned the production and selling of foie gras from 2006 until 2008.

Animal rights and welfare groups such as PETA, Viva!, and the Humane Society of the United States contend that foie gras production methods, and force feeding in particular, constitute cruel and inhumane treatment of animals. Specific complaints include livers swollen to many times their normal size, impaired liver function, expansion of the abdomen making it difficult for birds to breathe, death if the force feeding is continued, and scarring of the esophagus. PETA claims that the insertion and removal of the feeding tube scratch the throat and the esophagus, causing irritations and wounds and thus exposing the animal to risk of mortal infections.

Empirical research regarding the health and welfare of the bird during the production of foie gras is limited in quantity and quality. Foie gras as a amyloid-containing food product hastened the development of amyloidosis. Amyloidosis may be transmissible, akin to the infectious nature of prion-related illnesses. However, a correlation between foie gras consumption and these diseases has not been confirmed.

Notes

References

External links

Scientific Studies

Report of the EU Scientific

First person

* An American food and wine blogger goes inside the gavage shed at a foie gras farm in the Dordogne (Périgord), with pictures

Alternatives:

* Foie Gras without force feeding

* Faux Gras - "Foie Gras Without The Cruelty"

* Citizens' Initiative for the banning of force-feeding

* Chef Dan Barber tells the story of a small farm in Spain that has found a humane way to produce foie gras

* Can Ethical Foie Gras Happen in America? TIME, August 12, 2009

Category:French cuisine Category:Occitan cuisine Category:French words and phrases Category:Offal Category:Poultry Category:Spreads

Name	Kate Winslet
Caption	Winslet at 2007 Palm Springs Film Festival
Alt	A young woman with shoulder-length, wavy, blonde hair and wearing a low-cut blue gown, is looking to the right with her mouth open as if speaking.
Birth name	Kate Elizabeth Winslet
Birth date	October 05, 1975
Birth place	Reading, Berkshire, England
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	1991–present
Spouse	(separated)

Kate Elizabeth Winslet (born 5 October 1975) is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She is the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader (2008). Winslet has been acclaimed for both dramatic and comedic work in projects ranging from period to contemporary films, and from major Hollywood productions to less publicised indie films. She has won awards from the Screen Actors Guild, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association among others, and has been nominated for an Emmy Award for television acting.

Raised in Berkshire, Winslet studied drama from childhood, and began her career in British television in 1991. She made her film debut in Heavenly Creatures (1994), for which she received her first notable critical praise. She achieved recognition for her subsequent work in a supporting role in Sense and Sensibility (1995) and for her leading role in Titanic (1997), the highest grossing film for more than 12 years until 2010.

Since 2000, Winslet's performances have continued to draw positive comments from film critics, and she has been nominated for various awards for her work in such films as Quills (2000), Iris (2001), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Finding Neverland (2004), Little Children (2006), The Reader (2008) and Revolutionary Road (2008). Her performance in the latter prompted New York magazine to describe her as "the best English-speaking film actress of her generation". The romantic comedy The Holiday and the animated film Flushed Away (both 2006) were among the biggest commercial successes of her career.

Winslet was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 2000. She has been included as a vocalist on some soundtracks of works she has performed in, and the single "What If" from the soundtrack for (2001), was a hit single in several European countries. Winslet has a daughter with her former husband, Jim Threapleton, and a son with her second husband, Sam Mendes, from whom she is separated. She lives in New York City.

Early life

Born in Reading, Berkshire, Winslet is the daughter of Sally Anne (née Bridges), a barmaid, and Roger John Winslet, a swimming pool contractor. Her parents were "jobbing actors", which led Winslet to comment that she "didn't have a privileged upbringing" and that their daily life was "very hand to mouth". Her maternal grandparents, Linda (née Plumb) and Archibald Oliver Bridges, founded and operated the Reading Repertory Theatre, At the age of 12, Winslet appeared in a television advertisement directed by filmmaker Tim Pope for Sugar Puffs cereal. Pope said her naturalism was "there from the start".

Career

1991–1997

Winslet's career began on television, with a co-starring role in the BBC children's science fiction serial Dark Season. This role was followed by appearances in the made-for-TV movie Anglo-Saxon Attitudes in 1992, the sitcom Get Back for ITV and an episode of medical drama Casualty in 1993, also for the BBC. The film included Winslet's singing debut, and her a cappella version of "Sono Andati", an aria from La Bohème, was featured on the film's soundtrack. The film was released to favourable reviews in 1994 and won Jackson and partner Fran Walsh a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Winslet was awarded an Empire Award and a London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year for her performance. Speaking about her experience on a film set as an absolute beginner, Winslet noted: "With Heavenly Creatures, all I knew I had to do was completely become that person. In a way it was quite nice doing [the film] and not knowing a bloody thing." Director Ang Lee admitted he was initially worried about the way Winslet had attacked her role in Heavenly Creatures and thus required her to exercise tai chi, read Austen-era Gothic novels and poetry, and work with a piano teacher to fit the grace of the role.

In 1996, Winslet starred in both Jude and Hamlet. In Michael Winterbottom's Jude, based on the Victorian novel Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, she played Sue Bridehead, a young woman with suffragette leanings who falls in love with her cousin, played by Christopher Eccleston. Acclaimed among critics, it was not a success at the box office, barely grossing US$2 million ($}} million) worldwide. Richard Corliss of Time magazine said "Winslet is worthy of [...] the camera's scrupulous adoration. She's perfect, a modernist ahead of her time [...] and Jude is a handsome showcase for her gifts." Winslet played Ophelia, Hamlet's drowned lover, in Kenneth Branagh's all star-cast film version of William Shakespeare's Hamlet. The film garnered largely positive reviews and earned Winslet her second Empire Award.

In mid-1996, Winslet began filming James Cameron's Titanic (1997), alongside Leonardo DiCaprio. Against expectations, the film went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time, grossing more than US$1.843 billion ($}} billion) in box-office receipts worldwide, and transformed Winslet into a commercial movie star. Subsequently, she was nominated for most of the high-profile awards, winning a European Film Award.

1998–2003

Shot prior to the release of Titanic, Hideous Kinky, a low-budget hippie romance, was Winslet's sole film of 1998. The film garnered generally mixed reviews and received only limited distribution, resulting in a worldwide gross of US$5 million ($}} million). Despite the success of Titanic, the next film Winslet opted to star in was Holy Smoke! (1999), featuring Harvey Keitel, another low-budget project—much to the chagrin of her agents, who felt "miserable" about her preference of arthouse movies. The same year, she voiced Brigid in the computer animated film Faeries.

In 2000, Winslet appeared in the period piece Quills with Geoffrey Rush and Joaquin Phoenix, a film inspired by the life and work of the Marquis de Sade. The actress served as somewhat of a "patron saint" of the film for being the first big name to back it, accepting the role of a chambermaid in the asylum and the courier of The Marquis' manuscripts to the underground publishers. Well-received by critics, the film garnered numerous accolades for Winslet, including nominations for SAG and Satellite Awards.

In 2001's Enigma, Winslet played a young woman who finds herself falling for a brilliant young World War II code breaker, played by Dougray Scott. Generally well-received, Winslet was awarded a British Independent Film Award for her performance, In the same year she appeared in Richard Eyre's critically acclaimed film Iris, portraying Irish novelist Iris Murdoch. Winslet shared her role with Judi Dench, with both actresses portraying Murdoch at different phases of her life. Subsequently, each of them was nominated for an Academy Award the following year, earning Winslet her third nomination. with proceeds donated to two of Winslet's favourite charities, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Sargeant Cancer Foundation for Children. A Europe-wide top ten hit, it reached number one in Austria, Belgium, and Ireland, number six on the UK Singles Chart, and won the 2002 OGAE Song Contest.

Her next film role was in the 2003 drama The Life of David Gale, in which she played an ambitious journalist who interviews a death-sentenced professor, played by Kevin Spacey, in his final weeks before execution. The film underperformed at international box offices, garnering only half of its US$ 50,000,000 budget, and generating mostly critical reviews, with Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times calling it a "silly movie."

2004–2006

Following The Life of David Gale, Winslet appeared with Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), a neosurrealistic indie-drama by French director Michel Gondry. In the film, she played the role of Clementine Kruczynski, a chatty, spontaneous and somewhat neurotic woman, who decides to have all memories of her ex-boyfriend erased from her mind. The role was a departure from her previous roles, with Winslet revealing in an interview with Variety that she was initially upended about her casting in the film: "This was not the type of thing I was being offered [...] I was just thrilled that there was something he had seen in me, in spite of the corsets, that he thought was going to work for Clementine.” The film was a critical and financial success. Winslet received rave reviews for her Academy Award-nominated performance, which Peter Travers of Rolling Stone described as "electrifying and bruisingly vulnerable."

.|alt=A young woman in formal evening attire of a strapless black gown, with diamond earrings and bracelet, looks over her shoulder. Her hair is pulled back from her face, and her hand, with dark nail varnish clasps a purse.]]

Her final film in 2004 was Finding Neverland. The story of the production focused on Scottish writer J. M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) and his platonic relationship with Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Winslet), whose sons inspired him to pen the classic play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. During promotion of the film, Winslet noted of her portrayal "It was very important for me in playing Sylvia that I was already a mother myself, because I don’t think I could have played that part if I didn’t know what it felt like to be a parent and have those responsibilities and that amount of love that you give to a child [...] and I've always got a baby somewhere, or both of them, all over my face." The film received favourable reviews and proved to be an international success, becoming Winslet's highest-grossing film since Titanic with a total of $118 million worldwide.

In 2005, Winslet appeared in an episode of BBC's comedy series Extras as a satirical version of herself. While dressed as a nun, she was portrayed giving phone sex tips to the romantically challenged character of Maggie. Her performance in the episode led to her first nomination for an Emmy Award. Hand-picked by Turturro, who was impressed with her display of dancing ability in Holy Smoke!, Winslet was praised for her performance, Derek Elley of Variety wrote: "Onscreen less, but blessed with the showiest role, filthiest one-liners, [and] a perfect Lancashire accent that's comical enough in the Gotham setting Winslet throws herself into the role with an infectious gusto."

After declining an invitation to appear in Woody Allen's film Match Point (2005), Winslet stated that she wanted to be able to spend more time with her children. She began 2006 with All the King's Men, featuring Sean Penn and Jude Law. Winslet played the role of Anne Stanton, the childhood sweetheart of Jack Burden (Law). The film was critically and financially unsuccessful. Todd McCarthy of Variety summed it up as "overstuffed and fatally miscast [...] Absent any point of engagement to become involved in the characters, the film feels stillborn and is unlikely to stir public excitement, even in an election year."

Winslet fared far better when she joined the cast of Todd Field's Little Children, playing Sarah Pierce, a bored homemaker who has a torrid affair with a married neighbour, played by Patrick Wilson. Both her performance and the film received rave reviews; A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote: "In too many recent movies intelligence is woefully undervalued, and it is this quality—even more than its considerable beauty—that distinguishes Little Children from its peers. The result is a movie that is challenging, accessible and hard to stop thinking about. Ms. Winslet, as fine an actress as any working in movies today, registers every flicker of Sarah’s pride, self-doubt and desire, inspiring a mixture of recognition, pity and concern that amounts, by the end of the movie, to something like love. That Ms. Winslet is so lovable makes the deficit of love in Sarah’s life all the more painful." For her work in the film, she was honored with a Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year from BAFTA/LA, a Los Angeles-based offshoot of the BAFTA Awards. and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, and at 31, became the youngest actress to ever garner five Oscar nominations.

She followed Little Children with a role in Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy The Holiday, also starring Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, and Jack Black. In it she played Iris, a British woman who temporarily exchanges homes with an American woman (Diaz). Released to a mixed reception by critics, the film became Winslet's biggest commercial success in nine years, grossing more than US$205 million worldwide. Also in 2006, Winslet provided her voice for several smaller projects. In the CG-animated Flushed Away, she voiced Rita, a scavenging sewer rat who helps Roddy (Hugh Jackman) escape from the city of Ratropolis and return to his luxurious Kensington origins. A critical and commercial success, the film collected US$177,665,672 at international box offices.

2007–present

in February 2009|alt=A young woman with blonde hair, pulled back from her face wears diamond earrings and formal gown. She looks to her right and waves and smiles.]]

In 2007, Winslet reunited with Leonardo DiCaprio to film Revolutionary Road (2008), directed by her husband Sam Mendes. Winslet had suggested that both should work with her on a film adaptation of the 1961 novel of the same name by Richard Yates after reading the script by Justin Haythe. Resulting in both "a blessing and an added pressure" on-set, the reunion was her first experience working with Mendes. Portraying a couple in a failing marriage in the 1950s, DiCaprio and Winslet watched period videos promoting life in the suburbs to prepare themselves for the film, In his review of the film, David Edelstein of New York magazine stated that "[t]here isn’t a banal moment in Winslet’s performance—not a gesture, not a word. Is Winslet now the best English-speaking film actress of her generation? I think so." A month after filming began, however, Kidman left the film due to her pregnancy before filming of her had begun, enabling Winslet to rejoin the film. She later said the role was difficult for her, as she was naturally unable "to sympathise with an SS guard." While the film garnered mixed reviews in general, The following year, she earned her sixth Academy Award nomination and went on to win the Best Actress award, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress, a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress, and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. She has been cast in the Steven Soderbergh disaster film Contagion, which is scheduled to be released in October 2011. Winslet will also join Jodie Foster and Christoph Waltz in Roman Polanski's adaptation of the play God of Carnage, which is scheduled to begin filming in Paris in February 2011.

Personal life

While on the set of Dark Season, Winslet met actor-writer Stephen Tredre, with whom she had a nearly five-year relationship. He died of bone cancer soon after Winslet completed filming Titanic, causing her to miss the film's premiere in order to attend his funeral in London.

Winslet was later in a relationship with Rufus Sewell, They have a daughter, Mia, who was born on 12 October 2000 in London. Winslet began a relationship with Sam Mendes, whom she married on 24 May 2003 on the island of Anguilla in the Caribbean.

Mendes and his production company, Neal Street Productions, purchased the film rights to the long-delayed biography of circus tiger tamer Mabel Stark. The couple's spokesperson said, "It's a great story, they have had their eyes on it for a while. If they can get the script right, it would make a great film." GQ subsequently issued an apology. She won a libel suit in 2009 against British tabloid The Daily Mail after it printed that she lied about her exercise regimen. Winslet said she had always expressed the opinion that women should be encouraged to accept their appearance with pride, and therefore "was particularly upset to be accused of lying about my exercise regimen, and felt that I had a responsibility to request an apology in order to demonstrate my commitment to the views that I have always expressed about body issues, including diet and exercise." They also own a Grade II-listed five-bedroom house, set in in the village of Church Westcote in Gloucestershire, England. After purchasing the house for £3 million, they have reportedly spent a further £1 million in renovations, as the house had fallen into disrepair after the death of its former owner, the equestrian artist Raoul Millais in 1999.

Awards and nominations

Winslet won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Reader (2008). She won two Golden Globe Awards in the same year: Best Actress (Drama) for Revolutionary Road and Best Supporting Actress for The Reader. She has won two BAFTA Awards: Best Actress for The Reader, and Best Supporting Actress for Sense and Sensibility (1995). She has earned a total of six Academy Award nominations, seven Golden Globe nominations, and seven BAFTA nominations.

She has received numerous awards from other organisations, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for Iris (2001) and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Sense and Sensibility and The Reader. Premiere magazine named her portrayal of Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) as the 81st greatest film performance of all time.

Academy Award nomination milestones

Winslet was 26 when she received her third Academy Award nomination, for Iris, just missing the mark of Natalie Wood, who received her third nomination at age 25. She set the mark as the youngest actor to receive five nominations, at age 31, for Little Children (2006). She surpassed Bette Davis, who was 33 when she received her fifth nomination for her performance in The Little Foxes (1941). With her Best Actress nomination for The Reader, Winslet became the youngest actor to receive six Oscar nominations. At age 33, Winslet passed the mark Davis, one year older, set with Now, Voyager (1942).

Winslet received Academy Award nominations as the younger versions of the characters played by fellow nominees Gloria Stuart, as Rose, in Titanic (1997) These are the only instances of the younger and older versions of a character in the same film both yielding Academy Award nominations.

When she was not nominated for her work in Revolutionary Road, Winslet became only the second actress to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress (Drama) without getting an Oscar nomination for the same performance (Shirley MacLaine was the first for Madame Sousatzka [1988], and she won the Golden Globe in a three-way tie). Academy rules allow an actor to receive no more than one nomination in a given category; as the Academy nominating process determined that Winslet's work in The Reader would be considered a lead performance—unlike the Golden Globes, which considered it a supporting performance—she could not also receive a Best Actress nomination for Revolutionary Road.

Awards for other work

In 2000, Winslet won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for Listen To the Storyteller. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for playing herself in a 2005 episode of Extras.

Filmography

{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Films |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1991 | Dark Season | Reet | (TV series) |- | 1992 | Get Back | Eleanor Sweet | (TV series) |- | 1994 | Heavenly Creatures | Juliet Hulme | Empire Award for Best British ActressLondon Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the YearNew Zealand Film and TV Award for Best Foreign Performer |- | 1995 | | Princess Sarah | |- | 1995 | Sense and Sensibility | Marianne Dashwood | BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting RoleEvening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress (also for Jude)Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting RoleNominated–Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureNominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |- | 1996 | Jude | Sue Bridehead | Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress (also for Sense and Sensibility) |- | 1996 | Hamlet | Ophelia | Empire Award for Best British ActressNominated–Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture |- | 1997 | Titanic | Rose DeWitt Bukater | Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – DramaEmpire Award for Best British ActressEuropean Film Awards Jameson Audience/People's Choice Award for Best British ActressGolden Camera – Germany – Film – International (Exceptional work in a non-German production)Nominated–Academy Award for Best ActressNominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated–London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the YearNominated–MTV Movie Award for Best PerformanceNominated–MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Leonardo DiCaprio)Nominated–MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (shared with Leonardo DiCaprio)Nominated–Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated–European Film Awards – Outstanding Achievement in World CinemaNominated–Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaNominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading RoleNominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |- | 1998 | Hideous Kinky | Julia | |- | 1999 | Faeries | Brigid | (voice) |- | 1999 | Holy Smoke! | Ruth Barron | |- | 2000 | Quills | Madeleine 'Maddy' LeClerc | Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress (also for Enigma and Iris)Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated–Blockbuster Entertainment Awards – Favorite Actress – DramaNominated–London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the YearNominated–Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture DramaNominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role |- | 2001 | Enigma | Hester Wallace | Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress (also for Iris and Quills)Nominated–British Independent Film Award for Best Actress |- | 2001 | | Belle | (voice) |- | 2001 | Iris | Young Iris Murdoch | Empire Award for Best British ActressEvening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress (also for Enigma and Quills)European Film Awards – Jameson Audience/People's Choice Award for Best British ActressLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated–Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated–BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting RoleNominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureNominated–Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture |- | 2003 | | Bitsey Bloom | |- | 2004 | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | Clementine Kruczynski | Empire Award for Best British ActressInternational Cinephile Society Award for Best ActressLas Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress (also for Finding Neverland)London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year (tied with Eva Birthistle for Ae Fond Kiss...)Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressSanta Barbara International Film Festival – Outstanding Performance of the Year Award (also for Finding Neverland)Nominated–Academy Award for Best ActressNominated–BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated–Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated–People's Choice Awards – Favorite Leading LadyNominated–People's Choice Awards – Favorite On-Screen Chemistry (shared with Jim Carrey)Nominated–Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated–Saturn Award for Best ActressNominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role |- | 2004 | Finding Neverland | Sylvia Llewelyn Davies | Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress (also for Eternal Sunshine)Santa Barbara International Film Festival – Outstanding Performance of the Year Award (also for Eternal Sunshine)Nominated–Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion PictureNominated–BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated–Teen Choice Awards – Choice Movie Actress – Motion Picture Drama |- | 2005 | Romance & Cigarettes | Tula | |- | 2006 | All the King's Men | Anne Stanton | |- | 2006 | Little Children | Sarah Pierce | The Britannia Award for British Artist of the YearGotham Awards – Tribute AwardPalm Springs International Film Festival – Desert Palm Achievement AwardNominated–Academy Award for Best ActressNominated–BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated–Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated–Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaNominated–London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the YearNominated–Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated–Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaNominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role |- | 2006 | ''Flushed Away | Rita | (voice) |- | 2006 | | Iris Simpkins | |- | 2006 | Deep Sea 3D | Narrator | (voice) |- | 2008 | | Narrator | (voice) |- | 2008 | | Hanna Schmitz | Academy Award for Best ActressBAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleBroadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressChicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressEuropean Film Award for Best ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion PictureScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting RoleLas Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress (also for Revolutionary Road)London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (also for Revolutionary Road)RopeofSilicon Movie Award for Best Supporting ActressSan Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressVancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (also for Revolutionary Road)Nominated–London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the YearNominated–MTV Movie Award for Best PerformanceNominated–Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated–Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama |- | 2008 | Revolutionary Road | April Wheeler | Alliance of Women Film Journalists – Best ActressDetroit Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaLas Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress (also for The Reader)London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (also for The Reader)Palm Springs International Film Festival – Best Cast PerformanceSt. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressVancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (also for The Reader)Santa Barbara International Film Festival – Montevito AwardNominated–BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated–Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role |- | 2011 | Mildred Pierce | Mildred Pierce Beragon | HBO mini-series |- | 2011 | Contagion | Dr. Erin Mears |- |}

References

External links

Category:1975 births Category:Living people Category:People from Reading, Berkshire Category:English expatriates in the United States Category:English film actors Category:English stage actors Category:English television actors Category:English voice actors Category:European Film Awards winners (people) Category:Grammy Award winners Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Evening Standard Award for Best Actress

Name	Dan Barber
Birth date	1969
Birth place	New York City, New York
Education	French Culinary InstituteTufts University
Ratings
Restaurants	Blue Hill (Manhattan) Blue Hill at Stone Barns
Prevrests	Bouley (New York City) Chez Panisse (Berkeley, CA) Campanile (Los Angeles) La Brea Bakery (Los Angeles)
Awards	Also in 2009, he was named one of the world’s most influential people in Time Magazine's annual Time 100. His restaurant, Blue Hill in New York City, has also been recognized as one of GAYOT.com's Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S.
Name	Barber, Dan
Date of birth	1969
Place of birth	New York City, New York

Category:American chefs Category:American food writers Category:Living people Category:French Culinary Institute alumni Category:1969 births

Name	Anthony Bourdain
Caption	Bourdain in June 2006
Birth name	Anthony Michael Bourdain
Birth date	June 25, 1956
Birth place	New York City, U.S.
Style	French
Education	Vassar CollegeCulinary Institute of America
Ratings
Television	A Cook's Tour
Spouse	Nancy Putkoski (1980s–2000s)Ottavia Busia (April 20, 2007–present)

Anthony Michael "Tony" Bourdain (born June 25, 1956) is an American author and chef. He is well known for his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and is the host of Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure program .

A 1978 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and a 28-year veteran of professional kitchens, Bourdain is currently a chef-at-large, whose home base is Brasserie Les Halles, New York where he was executive chef for many years.

Early life and family

Anthony was born in New York City to Pierre (d.1988) and Gladys Bourdain, but grew up in Leonia, New Jersey. Bourdain has French ancestry on his father's side; his paternal grandfather immigrated to New York from France following World War I. Bourdain was a student at Englewood School for Boys, graduating in 1973. He attended Vassar College, dropping out after two years. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978. Currently, Bourdain is honorary Chef-at-Large of Brasserie Les Halles, where he held the title of executive chef for nearly a decade. When he is not travelling, Bourdain lives in Manhattan.

Bourdain married his high-school girlfriend, Nancy Putkoski, in the 1980s, remaining together for two decades before divorcing; Bourdain has cited the irrevocable changes that come from travelling widely as the cause of the split. He currently lives with his second wife, Ottavia Busia. Together, they have one daughter, Ariane, born on April 9, 2007; the couple wed on April 20, 2007. Ottavia has appeared in several episodes of — notably the episode on Sardinia, her birthplace; the Tuscany episode, in which she plays a disgruntled Italian diner; and the Rome episode.

Culinary training and career

In Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain describes how his love of food was kindled in France — when he tried his first oyster on an oyster fisherman's boat as a youth while on a family vacation. Later, while attending Vassar College, he worked in the seafood restaurants of Provincetown, Massachusetts, which sparked his decision to pursue cooking as a career. Bourdain graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978, and went on to run various restaurant kitchens in New York City — including the Supper Club, One Fifth Avenue, and Sullivan's — culminating in the position of executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles beginning in 1998. Brasserie Les Halles is based in Manhattan, with additional locations in Miami and, at the time of Bourdain's tenure, Washington, D.C. and Tokyo, Japan.

Media career

Writing

Bourdain gained immediate popularity from his 2000 New York Times bestselling book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, an outgrowth of his now famous article in The New Yorker called "Don't Eat Before Reading This". The book is a witty and rambunctious exposé of the hidden and darker side of the culinary world, and is a memoir of Bourdain's professional life as well.

Bourdain subsequently wrote two more New York Times bestselling nonfiction books: A Cook's Tour (2001), an exotic account of his food and travel exploits across the world, written in conjunction with his first television series; and The Nasty Bits (2006), another collection of exotic, provocative, and humorous anecdotes and essays mainly centered on food. Bourdain's additional books include Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook; the culinary mysteries Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo; a hypothetical historical investigation, Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical; and No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach. His latest book, Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook, the sequel to Kitchen Confidential, was published in 2010.

Bourdain's articles and essays have appeared many places, including in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Observer, Gourmet, Maxim, Esquire (UK), Scotland on Sunday, The Face, Food Arts, Limb by Limb, BlackBook, The Independent, Best Life, the Financial Times, and Town & Country. On the Internet, Bourdain's blog for Season 3 of Top Chef was nominated for a Webby Award for best Blog – Cultural/Personal in 2008.

Television

The acclaim surrounding Bourdain's racy memoir, Kitchen Confidential, led to an offer by the Food Network to host his own food and world-travel show, A Cook's Tour, which premiered on January 8, 2002. In July 2005, he premiered a new, somewhat similar television series, , on the Travel Channel. As a further result of the immense popularity of Kitchen Confidential, the Fox sitcom Kitchen Confidential aired in 2005, in which the character "Jack Bourdain" is based loosely on the biography and persona of Anthony Bourdain.

In July 2006, Bourdain was in Beirut filming an episode of No Reservations when the Israel-Lebanon conflict broke out. Bourdain and his crew were evacuated with other American citizens on the morning of July 20 by the United States Marines. Because of the unexpected conflict only a few hours of footage were available from the first restaurant on their agenda. Bourdain's producers compiled the Beirut footage into a No Reservations episode which aired on August 21, 2006. Uncharacteristically, the episode included footage of both Bourdain and his production staff, and included not only their initial attempts to film the episode, but also their firsthand encounters with Hezbollah supporters, their days of waiting for news with other expatriates in a Beirut hotel, and their eventual escape aided by a "cleaner" (unseen in the footage), whom Bourdain dubbed "Mr. Wolf" after the character portrayed by Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction. The episode was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2007.

Bourdain has appeared five times as guest judge on Bravo's Top Chef reality cooking competition program: first in the November 2006 "Thanksgiving" episode of Season 2; and then again in June 2007 in the first episode of Season 3, judging the "exotic surf and turf" competition featuring ingredients including abalone, alligator, black chicken, geoduck and eel. His third appearance was also in Season 3, as an expert on air travel, judging the competitors' airplane meals. Bourdain also wrote weekly blog commentaries for many of the Season 3 episodes, filling in as a guest blogger while Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio was busy opening a new restaurant. Bourdain next appeared as a guest judge for the opening episode of Season 4, in which pairs of chefs competed head-to-head in the preparation of various classic dishes; and again in the Season 4 Restaurant Wars episode, temporarily taking the place of head judge Tom Colicchio, was at a charity event. He is also one of the main judges on the Top Chef All-Stars Season 8.

Bourdain appeared in an episode of TLC's reality show Miami Ink which aired August 28, 2006. Artist Chris Garver tattooed a skull on Bourdain's right shoulder. Bourdain, who noted it was his fourth tattoo, said that one reason for the skull was that he wished to balance the ouroboros tattoo he had done on his opposite shoulder in Malaysia while filming Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.

Bourdain made a guest appearance on the August 6, 2007 New York City episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern; Zimmern appeared as a guest on the New York City episode of Bourdain's No Reservations airing the same day. On October 20, 2008 Bourdain hosted a special, "At the Table with Anthony Bourdain," on the Travel Channel. Bourdain also has a brief cameo appearance in the 2008 movie Far Cry.

In 2010 he appeared on Nick, Jr.'s Yo Gabba Gabba! as Dr. Tony.

Bourdain is currently consulting and writing for the HBO series, TREME.

Public persona

Because of Bourdain's liberal use of profanity and sexual references in his television show No Reservations, the network has prepended viewer discretion advisories to each segment of each episode. In recent seasons, the advisories include animation that is related in some way to the episode.

Known for consuming exotic ethnic dishes, Bourdain is famous for eating sheep testicles in Morocco, ant eggs in Puebla, Mexico, a raw seal eyeball as part of a traditional Inuit seal hunt, and a whole cobra — beating heart, blood, bile, and meat — in Vietnam. According to Bourdain, the most disgusting thing he has ever eaten is a Chicken McNugget, though he has also declared that the unwashed warthog rectum he ate in Namibia and the fermented shark he ate in Iceland are among "the worst meals of [his] life."

Bourdain has stated that he has "strong libertarian instincts." He has been known for being an unrepentant drinker and smoker. In a nod to Bourdain's (at the time) two-pack-a-day cigarette habit, renowned chef Thomas Keller once served him a 20-course tasting menu which included a mid-meal "coffee and cigarette": a coffee custard infused with tobacco, together with a foie gras mousse. Bourdain has stopped cigarette smoking as of the summer of 2007, because of the birth of his daughter. He is also a former user of cocaine, heroin, and LSD. In Kitchen Confidential he writes of his experience in a trendy SoHo restaurant in 1981: "We were high all the time, sneaking off to the walk-in refrigerator at every opportunity to 'conceptualize.' Hardly a decision was made without drugs. Cannabis, methaqualone, cocaine, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms soaked in honey and used to sweeten tea, secobarbital, tuinal, amphetamine, codeine and, increasingly, heroin, which we'd send a Spanish-speaking busboy over to Alphabet City to get." In the same book, Bourdain frankly describes his former addiction, including how he once resorted to selling his record collection on the street in order to raise enough money to purchase drugs.

Bourdain is also noted for his put-downs of celebrity chefs, such as Emeril Lagasse (though he has since warmed to Lagasse, who has appeared with Bourdain in the post-Katrina New Orleans episode of No Reservations) and Bobby Flay, and Food Network personalities such as Sandra Lee and Rachael Ray (who is the butt of many jokes on No Reservations). Bourdain fully expressed his feelings about certain Food Network personalities in a popular blog entry from February 2007, and appears to be irritated by both the overt commercialism of the celebrity cooking industry and its lack of culinary authenticity. He has voiced a "serious disdain for food demigods like Alan Richman, Alice Waters, and Alain Ducasse." In October 2009, he commented that Waters was "Pol Pot in a muumuu." Bourdain has recognized the irony of his transformation into a celebrity chef and has, to some extent, begun to qualify his insults. He has been consistently outspoken in his praise for chefs he admires, particularly Thomas Keller, Masa Takayama, Alton Brown, Eric Ripert, Ferran Adrià, Fergus Henderson, Marco Pierre White, and Mario Batali. Bourdain has also spoken very highly of Julia Child, saying that she "influenced the way I grew up and my entire value system."

Bourdain is also known for sarcastic comments about vegans and vegetarians, saying that their lifestyle is rude to the inhabitants of many countries he visits. Bourdain says he considers vegetarianism, except in the case of religious strictures as in India, a "First World luxury."

Bourdain's taste in music is also a matter of public record. His book, The Nasty Bits, is dedicated to "Joey, Johnny, and Dee Dee" of the Ramones. Bourdain has declared fond appreciation for their music, as well that of other early punk bands such as The Stooges, Dead Boys, Television, The New York Dolls, and The Voidoids. Additionally, Bourdain writes in Kitchen Confidential that the playing of music by Billy Joel in his kitchen was grounds for immediate firing (coincidentally, Joel is a fan of his and has subsequently visited the restaurant). In the 2006 episode in Sweden, Bourdain proclaimed that his all-time favorite album (his "desert island disc") is the groundbreaking punk record Fun House by The Stooges; he also made it clear that he despises the Swedish pop group ABBA. On his 2007 No Reservations Holiday Special episode, the rock band Queens of the Stone Age were the featured dinner guests, adding food-inspired holiday songs to the episode's soundtrack.

Serious interests

Bourdain is an advocate for communicating the value and tastiness of traditional or "peasant" foods, including specifically all of the varietal bits and unused animal parts not usually eaten by affluent 21st-century Westerners. Bourdain has also consistently noted and championed the high quality and deliciousness of freshly prepared street food in other countries — especially developing countries — as compared to fast food chains in the U.S.

Another of Bourdain's major concerns is acknowledging and championing the industrious Spanish-speaking immigrants, often from Mexico or Ecuador. Bourdain considers them to be talented chefs and invaluable cooks, underpaid and unrecognized even though they have become the backbone of the U.S. restaurant industry.

Awards and nominations

Bourdain was named Food Writer of the Year in 2001 by Bon Appétit magazine for Kitchen Confidential.

A Cook's Tour was named Food Book of the Year in 2002 by the British Guild of Food Writers.

The Beirut episode of , which documented the experiences of Bourdain and his crew during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming in 2007.

Bourdain's blog for the reality competition show Top Chef was nominated for a Webby Award for best Blog – Culture / Personal in 2008.

In 2008, Bourdain was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America.

In 2009, won a Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming.

In 2010, Anthony Bourdain was nominated for a Creative Arts Emmy for non-fiction writing.

Bibliography

;Non-fiction

Bourdain, Anthony (2010). Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook. Ecco/HarperCollins. ISBN 0061718947.

;Fiction

Footnotes

References

Bourdain, Anthony. ''Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, Updated ed., New York: Harper Perennial (January 9, 2007).

Bourdain's biography on TravelChannel.com

External links

Official sites

Anthony Bourdain official Travel Channel website

Anthony Bourdain at the Chef and Restaurant Database

Blogs

Bourdain's Blog at The Travel Channel

Three blog entries by Bourdain at Ruhlman.com (June 2007)

Interviews

One-hour video interview from Authors@Google (November 2007)

Interview at Salon.com (2006)

Video Interview at the Commonwealth Club (November 2007)

2009 Interview with Too Beautiful to Live

Category:1956 births Category:American chefs Category:American food writers Category:American television chefs Category:Culinary Institute of America alumni Category:American people of French descent Category:Living people Category:People from Bergen County, New Jersey Category:People from New York City Category:Food Network chefs Category:Vassar College alumni