The Danny Bowien Recipe Inspired By His Work With Anthony Bourdain - Exclusive
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Danny Bowien still remembers fondly his time working with Anthony Bourdain on "Wasted! The Story of Food Waste." "[Bourdain] was such a positive influence," Bowien told Tasting Table in an exclusive interview. "I went into that project, 'Wasted!' the food documentary ... they asked me to participate. I was more than happy to because I just wanted to learn more."
It's been five years and a global pandemic since the movie premiered. Meanwhile, according to rts, the United States still throws out more food than any other country in the world. Bowien, however, doesn't think the work he and Bourdain did on the project was in vain. "Because chefs adore Anthony Bourdain, they took it as a creative challenge," Bowien said. "And I really enjoyed seeing that process happen, the level of creativity that happened in kitchens. And I do think that project had a huge influence on that."
For his part, Bowien can affirm that his work on the project influenced his recipe development process.
The story behind Danny Bowien's salted lemon kosho
For Danny Bowien, a recipe is a roadmap. "Food has been this vessel for me to really discover and find out a lot about myself and other people. But really it's been this roadmap to self-discovery," he told us. Evidence of this journey and the impact of working with Anthony Bourdain in "Wasted!" can be seen in Bowien's new cookbook, "Mission Vegan." "[I started asking] how we could be using food waste to help, as opposed to literally just wasting it, throwing it away," Bowien said.
In the pages of "Mission Vegan" you'll find a recipe for salted lemon kosho sauce. That's Bowien tipping his culinary hat to the movie. "That sauce came about a little bit after we filmed 'Wasted!'" Bowien recounted. "At the time we were using preserved lemons that we sourced that were really amazing. And then I think at a certain point, we were having a difficult time getting them. And I was just kind of like, 'Well, why don't we just use the lemons that the bar's using?' And also some fresh lemon juice. They're just throwing away all these lemons they're juicing. They're juicing a case of lemons a day. And that's how that started. So I can speak for myself in that the influence continued to foster itself in creative ways."
Danny Bowien's new cookbook, "Mission Vegan," is available for purchase here.