Anthony Bourdain Reveals His ‘Disgusting, Shameful’ Traveling Guilty Pleasure

anthony bourdain guilty pleasure
COLE SALADINO/THRILLIST
COLE SALADINO/THRILLIST

Eating for a living may be a dream job, but it's not all caviar and noting how under-appreciated Filipino food is. Just like anyone else, chefs have their guilty pleasures, and they're sometimes weird and surprising. However, maybe we shouldn't be surprised about the guilty pleasures of Anthony Bourdain, who once said, "Your body is not a temple, it's an amusement park. Enjoy the ride."

The globe-trotting chef revealed his dirty secret in a recent interview with The Boston Globe. "Every restaurant in the world, every hotel has spaghetti bolognese on the menu, and I have a perverse desire to see how they make it," he said. "It’s become a joke with my crew. We try to always eat what’s local always — especially in a country with delicious food — but in our down time, we all succumb now and again to the spaghetti bolognese, if only for the comedy value."

That wasn't the only guilty pleasure he unveiled. The second is a source of scorn from fans, he says. "But my real guilty pleasure — my really disgusting, shameful pleasure — is the mac and cheese at Popeye’s fried chicken."

He apparently feels so guilty that he tries to hide his identity while indulging. "Late at night, I’ve been known to sneak in there with a hoodie on — and I always get nailed," he said. "People are like, 'Dude, I’m going to put this on Instagram.'"

He name-dropped Popeye's, but he might just like mac and cheese from fast food joints. Back in 2015, Bourdain said he is a big fan of KFC's mac

If it's a pleasure, there's no need to feel guilty. It's not like his secret favorite food is spaghetti with chocolate chips

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Dustin Nelson is a News Writer with Thrillist. He holds a Guinness World Record but has never met the fingernail lady. Follow him @dlukenelson.