Mark Kurlyandchik

Detroit Free Press

Anthony Bourdain hardly needs an introduction. Since breaking out in 2000 with the hardscrabble culinary memoir "Kitchen Confidential," the 60-year-old former chef has become a cultural icon far beyond food media circles, inspiring an entire generation of raconteur chefs and writers with his trademark acerbic wit and boisterous persona.

Bourdain will bring his one-man live show "The Hunger" to Detroit's Fox Theatre Oct. 30, as part of a 14-city North American tour that coincides with the launch of "Appetites," his first cookbook in a decade.

The author and television host recently took some time between packing for Spain and recording voice-overs for his Emmy-winning CNN travel show, "Parts Unknown," to chat with the Detroit Free Press about his impressions of the Motor City and all that's wrong with food today.

► Related:In Vietnam, Obama dines with CNN’s Anthony Bourdain

His answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

QUESTION: Was filming the Detroit episode of "Parts Unknown" the last time you were in town?

ANSWER: I might have come through for a speaking gig, but I'm not sure. I love going to Detroit. I'm hoping to do another project there sometime soon. I can't really talk about it — but a pretty major big one.

Q: Would it be a show, or something else?

A: I can't really talk about it. But it's a fairly sizable project that would encompass more than an hour of television.

Q: How do you describe Detroit to others?

A: Beautiful. Magnificent. The boundless hope and dreams and optimism of its builders is reflected in the architecture. I feel anger seeing the extent to which it has been allowed to crumble. I feel hopeful. And I feel a tremendous appreciation that people have stuck it out and are proud of their city. They're loyal to it. It's truly a great city and the font of so many important American economic and cultural improvisations and movements. That it could have been allowed to come close to failing is a national disgrace.

►Related: Tim Meadows rips hometown Detroit on 'Colbert'

►Related: Kristen Bell learns about herself on West Michigan vacation

Q: Do you remember what kind of response you got to the episode? Was there any ruin porn blowback?

A: I look at it a little differently, I hope, than most. I'm not wallowing in the, "Oh, look at the tragedy." In many ways I wanted people to understand how beautiful the city still is, how great it could have been. And asking the question: "Where did we [expletive] up?"

But look, I well understand when you have busloads of people coming through looking at abandoned buildings and snapping pictures — I can understand being pissed off about that, or sensitive about it. But on the other hand, I've had many Detroiters say to me how they hear about other cities that have problems and they're like, "Oh man, you guys have nothing. We're way more [expletive] up than that." With a sense of pride, you know? And a dark sense of humor that I found very endearing.

Q: Are you hearing anything different about Detroit nowadays?

A: When you say you're from Detroit, you have an automatic cred and a coolness that translates everywhere I've been. That's a status symbol to say you're from Detroit. It implies something. You come from a place where all of this great music and all these great cars, and all of these great, cool things [are from]. I'd love to be able to say that I came from Detroit. That would be like the coolest thing I could ever say.

Q: It's been a while since you've worked in a restaurant kitchen. Do you ever miss that life?

A: I was 44 years old when "Kitchen Confidential" hit. I was not getting any better, younger, faster or more creative. I miss the camaraderie. I miss the certainty. I miss the rush. But I don't miss the life. It's hard. And I had 30 years of it. And not a particularly successful career, to say the least. So, yeah, I'm pretty happy with my life right now. If I had to go back to a weekend brunch shift I'd be pretty unhappy.

Q: How do you find balance? When do you find time for your family?

A: I don't have anything like a normal life and I travel 250 days a year. I have the best job in the world, so I can hardly complain. I choose where we go, what we do. I have all of this freedom. Creatively I'm very satisfied. But as far as trying to be a normal person in a normal series of relationships — whether that's marriage, family or even friends — that's tough for somebody who spends most of his time in hotels around the world.

Q: You've lamented the loss of dedicated cooks willing to pay their dues. Many have been replaced by people who see a celebrity chef on TV and say, "I want to do that," without the gumption for life on the line...

A: I'm worried now because every Michelin-starred restaurant that I've just casually happened to speak to the chef of over the last few months, they're all telling me the same thing: "We cannot find cooks."

These predatory culinary schools have popped up all over America who are happy to take people's money, with the promise of jobs, have been cranking out supposedly trained cooks for how many years now. So, where are the cooks? I think a lot of them are walking in the door expecting to be on TV two weeks later. And they get pissed off when they're asked to clean squid.

Q: Do you ever feel responsible for having helped create this culture?

A: I will acknowledge some responsibility. Cooking is not a competitive sport. It's a nurturing act. It's like moms competing to breastfeed best. That said, I think "Top Chef" in particular has performed a service — introducing people to a level of cooking they haven't seen before. It made them think about putting a face to the person cooking the food. It raises expectations and knowledge of the profession. So it's a mixed bag.

Q: Is there an ingredient that you see on a menu that immediately turns you off or makes you say, "Oh, this chef is a hack"?

A: The truffle oil. If there's truffle oil even mentioned on the menu, like truffle fries or truffle mac 'n' cheese, or anything that clearly has truffle oil in it or is going to have truffle oil in it, I lose a lot of respect for the place.

Q: What's the worst thing you ever ate?

A: I've eaten putrefied fish in Iceland. It's disgusting. It smells horrible. The flavor is nearly unbearable. Cooks don't even handle it without rubber gloves. I've eaten rotten food in tribal situations in Africa to be polite. But I will tell you, the meal that just sent me immediately into a spiral of depression that lasted two days, that filled me with rage and self-loathing and deep, deep, deep sadness was a cheeseburger at a Johnny Rockets in an airport a few months ago that was just so carelessly thrown on the plate, served with such total contempt and disregard for any human who's actually going to eat it. Maybe I read too much into it all, but it really depressed me in a way that made me fear for the whole future of the human race.

Tickets ($45-$300) are still available for "Anthony Bourdain: The Hunger" at 7 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Fox Theatre in Detroit. Purchase them at OlympiaEntertainment.com, Ticketmaster.com, the Fox Theatre and Joe Louis Arena box offices and at all Ticketmaster locations, or at 800-745-3000.

Contact Mark Kurlyandchik: 313-222-5026 or mkurlyandchik@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mkurlyandchik and Instagram: mkurlyandchik.

► Related:Top 10 Takeover 2016 comes to an end at Vertical Detroit