This week Slashfood, a food news blog, asked four celebrity chefs five questions; here are the highlights.
This week Cesare Casella, chef and owner of Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto in New York City, Anthony Bourdain, author, chef and Travel Channel series host, Marcela Valladolid, Mexican chef and cookbook author and Spike Mendelsohn, past contestant on Top Chef, Bravo channel's food show, revealed guilty food pleasures, naked chef desires, annoying food trends, thoughts on vegetarians and the ideal dinner guest.
Guilty food pleasures
Casella: "When I get home late at night after a party, I make a sandwich with beef, salami, cream cheese and toast. My nickname is the Swami of Salami."
Bourdain: "If I'm disgracefully drunk, I've been known to eat really nasty macaroni and cheese at Popeye's or the Colonel. I'm very ashamed and try to do this only with a bag on my head."
Valladolid: a whole package of Oreo cookies
Mendelsohn: Lunchables
Ideal dinner guest
Casella: "Jimmy Fallon, because I want to go on the show and cook with him and other celebrity guests."
Bourdain: "Keith Richards, because he's smart as hell. Funny. Still here. And because he likes steak and kidney pie."
Valladolid: "Roger Waters in exchange for an acoustic, live version of Wish You Were Here.
Mendelsohn: Pax and the entire Jolie-Pitt
Naked chefs
Casella: "I think I prefer to see most chefs with their clothes on. Even the Naked Chef Jamie Oliver wears clothes."
Bourdain: "I'm going to have nightmares just thinking about this question."
Valladolid: "Curtis Stone. Oh, and if somebody says me, please send their phone number."
Mendelsohn: Marcela Valladolid
Annoying food trends
Casella: "A lot of people cook Italian food, but they don't know true Italian cooking. This confuses people to what real Italian cooking even is. You don't see me cooking Chinese or French food!"
Bourdain: "I'm pretty happy with the way things are going. In general there seems to be a turn away from bullshit. A continuing slow movement toward quality ingredients."
Valladolid: Umami "...unless you can explain it to me in Spanish I probably won't get it. And no one in all of Mexico knows what the heck umami is."
Mendelsohn: "No one wants to see calorie intake on menus."
Vegetarians
Casella: "My pigs are vegetarians too."
Bourdain: "Unless Hindu? Not much. I think they make bad/rude travelers."
Valladolid: "It must stink to not ever feel full."
Mendelsohn: should "Have a steak every once in awhile.....please".
For the full interviews, visit Slashfood.com
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