November 14th, 2016 — The year 2000 was such a different time. Palm pilots were the future. Survivor made its television debut. The country was feeling deeply divided after a highly contested and close presidential race. (Err, ignore that last one.)
Either way, a lot has changed in 16 years. Case in point? Anthony Bourdain.
The mega-celebrity author/TV host/food personality first rose to prominence in the year 2000 when his New York Times bestseller Kitchen Confidential: Adventures In the Culinary Underbelly painted an honest, if less-than-rosy, picture of the cutthroat food service industry in New York City.
Among all the wisdom and anecdotes he shared in his first book however, the one that most people probably remember best was this thoughtful piece of advice: Don’t eat fish on Mondays.
Bourdain reasoned that because fish markets don’t make deliveries on the weekends, there’s a better-than-not chance that when you order that filet at a restaurant on Monday, it’s not as fresh as it could be.
Now however, Bourdain has changed his tune. In a Tech insider video, Bourdain lays out his argument in favor of ordering fish on Mondays, citing the big changes in the restaurant scene, consumer tastes, and suppliers over the last sixteen years.
Still, he says, “I’m not suggesting that you go to, you know, Monday at the local fake Irish pub—they’re running a mussels special. Maybe that’s still not such a great idea.”
But overall, as he puts it “it’s a better world. You know, we have higher standards. We know more about food. We expect more of our food.” He goes on to add, “The market has had to respond to that, it can’t get away with serving us the crap they used to.”