The Culinary Faux Pas Anthony Bourdain's Daughter Committed With Eggs

The food world is no stranger to debates (is a taco a sandwich, anyway?). In one now-iconic episode of "Parts Unknown," Anthony Bourdain sat down for a meal with former President Barack Obama – during which Bourdain told the President (who hates ketchup) that his daughter put ketchup on eggs. Obama has shared that his outspoken dislike for ketchup stems from his long tenure living in Chicago. The regional culinary phenomenon that is the Chicago-style hot dog follows a strict order of assembly — and the condiment is sorely missing from the lineup.

While chowing down on bun chai in Hanoi, Vietnam, Bourdain asks, "As a Chicagoan, trickier question fraught with peril: Is ketchup on a hot dog ever acceptable?" to which Obama succinctly responds, "No," shaking his head. "I mean that ... Let me put it this way: It's not acceptable past the age of eight."Bourdain shares, "My daughter's eight, [(the episode aired in 2016)] and she put ketchup on eggs the other day, and I didn't know what to do, what good parenting called for at this point." Obama, laughing, replies, "An intervention." Still, there are worse ways to eat ketchup. Donald Trump, for instance, puts ketchup on well-done steak ... but we digress. If you're looking for ways to make your scrambled eggs taste better, we have a few tips — and a squirt of ketchup isn't among them.

Despite Bourdain and Obama's firm anti-position, it's worth noting that ketchup on eggs is a fairly common pairing. On the palate, ketchup's sweet acidity brings bright counterbalance to eggs' richness. It's a trip around the tongue, encompassing complementary, dimensional salt and fat components. One Reddit thread dedicated to the controversy offers myriad stances. Foodies suggest other preferred condiments, from salsa to hot sauce, or argue that ketchup is fine on egg sandwiches and scrambled eggs, but never eggs with a runny yolk. Another Reddit post about the topic includes such passionate testimonies as "Every time I see it, I recoil in horror," writing-off ketchup on eggs as "crossing a bridge into hell."

Even more than dining preferences, Bourdain and Obama's shared stance on the debate is evidence of a sentimental devotion to fatherhood: Ketchup on eggs is never acceptable, argue these two acclaimed leaders, unless their young daughters are doing it. Bourdain later wrote of their lunch in a retrospective article for CNN, reflecting, "Barack Obama was apparently interested in sitting down for a meal with me — and I intended to speak to him only as a father of a 9-year-old girl [...] And when I asked him if — given the very likely ugly and frightening contents of the daily intelligence briefings to which he is privy — if it was 'going to be okay' for my daughter as she grew up, he replied with confidence that on balance, it would."