What Does the Food World Miss w/ Bourdain Gone?

This week I am with home cook and influencer @themooodyfoody aka Fabrizio Villalpando Watch the full episode below to see his bagel order, plus see all episodes HERE, but below with Fab we talk about Mexican food in America, what we miss with Bourdain being gone, and so much more!

Jeremy: What do you think people, Americans, New Yorkers, whoever, don’t necessarily understand about Mexican food?

Fabrizio: I mean, I think a lot of people always think it’s like, you go to your small town, I grew up in a small town, you are a New Yorker, but it’s that massive plate where the rice and beans take up half the real estate.

Tex‑Mex. Very fried, fatty, sour cream, cheese, all that stuff, cumin‑heavy, it’s basically like a Taco Bell, essentially.

Which, it’s not that. There’s a lot of fried stuff, which is very good, but I would argue Mexican food is probably the most diverse in terms of fresh ingredients and it’s actually very nutritious.

Jeremy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I totally agree. It’s been interesting because even me, growing up here in the suburbs of New York City back in the 90s, Mexican food was still that. It was Tex‑Mex.

And now it’s funny to see it kind of go full circle. We had all these places be like, “No, we’re real Mexican food,” and that’s wonderful. But then I was in Texas and I had this idea, “Tex‑Mex isn’t good,” blah blah blah, and then I had Tex‑Mex in Texas and I was like, yo, fuck, it’s so good. I need more of this in New York City.

Fabrizio: Like an enchilada, I’m a child of Mexican immigrants and I fuck with an enchilada, chimichanga, all that stuff so hard. Love Taco Bell. Taco Bell’s great.

Different stuff though.

Jeremy: Different stuff. I like the variety, but in New York, we have Yellow Rose, that’s Tex‑Mex, but everything else is like… I don’t know if I’d recommend other places other than, you’re going there to have a thousand margaritas. I mean Tex‑Mex specifically is what we’re missing.

Jeremy: You hosted a podcast about Bourdain. You put up a nice video with a recipe for him the other day as well. What do you think the food world misses the most about him?

Fabrizio: I think Bourdain that did a really good job of using food to bring people together. And now I feel, since I’m in food media, everything is so divided. Everything is “what is better,” “what is best,” “top places to go.”

I feel like Bourdain brought unexpected cultures or cuisines or people together. He would unite through food. I haven’t seen that with any other people.

Jeremy: What’s interesting, and at some point I’ll write a thing about this, probably for a YouTube about this. It’s interesting to me, like all the videos. I think you did it really well, like “here’s a recipe inspired by him,” which is wonderful. But so many videos are like, “Anthony Bourdain’s favorite burger in New York City is Burger Joint, so we’re going to go eat there.” That was his favorite burger 20 years ago.

There’s a fortunate part of Bourdain featuring you and an unfortunate part, the unfortunate part is if he featured you on a show 20 years ago, it’s been a tourist place for 20 years, and I don’t think that would be his favorite burger anymore. It’s still nice to speak to it, but I think he’d be the first person to be like, “Nah.”

Fabrizio: Yeah. You see a lot of online content creators who use his name or act like they know what he liked or what he would like now. Me personally, I would never fucking do that.

Jeremy: It’s almost an easy thing too. I was in Singapore and there’s a place he featured, but it was such a part of that story. If you’re there, you have to tell it, but I wouldn’t go there because of it. If you’re at Burger Joint you should absolutely mention, “This is the place Bourdain recommended 20 years ago.” But I’m not going there saying, “This is Anthony Bourdain’s favorite burger.”

Fabrizio: What I find annoying is people go to these spots, make “top 10” lists in whatever counrty and city, and use Bourdain’s name, but I feel like they takeand they don’t add, and that’s the distinction, right? Bourdain added a lot, spoke about culture, gave back to the people offering that cuisine or dish or experience. A lot of people aren’t doing the giving back; they’re just taking.

Jeremy: What’s wrong with TikTok?

Fabrizio: Oh. I mean, besides drilling holes into my brain and the collective brain like it’s Swiss cheese, melting, dude. Honestly, I’d rather be scrolling than here doing this.

Jeremy: On the creator side, I guess.

Fabrizio: Oh, the creator side. It just feels like… I don’t want to insult the algorithm because I really need it.

Jeremy: I am concerned that when they sold tiktok to America, they kind fucked with the algorithm, “have fun with our piece of shit algorithm.”

Fabrizio: Yeah. Well, I feel like you scroll and there is some stuff that is entertaining, but it’s like, “Oh, I saw this video four years ago, it’s a repost.” Or it’s videos about how to make videos blow up, but no one is actually making or doing anything.

Jeremy: You know what’s funny? The trend this week where everyone’s like “ba‑boom”, you’ve seen those? I’ve seen a million of those videos. I’ve not seen one of those videos do well. So I don’t understand why everyone’s making them.

Fabrizio: No. So don’t go to any link in bio, don’t subscribe to any course, do not pull out your credit card.

I’m just sick of, it’s driving this culture where everything needs to be optimized or strategized, but at the end of the day there’s absolutely nothing being made or talked about, and it’s dog shit.

Jeremy: Agreed.

What Is Your Bagel Order? FULL RANKINGS

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August 30, 2025

This is the series where I am interviewing and reviewing Bagel Orders from all kinds of different celebrities and influencers! I think everyone’s bagel order truly says something about them, and that’s definitely what I have learned so far! Below is the complete list of how they rank! Ill be updating this page with every new interview, which comes out o…