This Is The Only Sushi Anthony Bourdain Didn't Approve Of

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In his bestselling book, "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly," Anthony Bourdain kicked off his celebrity chef fame with a maxim that followed him his whole life: don't order fish on Mondays. According to Bourdain, restaurants didn't typically receive seafood deliveries over the weekend, meaning that the fish "special" you ordered on Monday evening was possibly several days old. Quality control and sourcing issues were the same reason that Bourdain would avoid ordering mussels at restaurants — he simply didn't trust other chefs to pick out the bad ones. Being extra wary of the seafood you eat isn't just a picky chef quirk; it's a matter of health: bad fish can make you very, very sick with dire food poisoning symptoms.

To that end, Bourdain cautioned against ever eating discounted sushi. "I can't imagine a better example of Things To Be Wary Of in the food department than bargain sushi," he opined (via The Guardian), speaking of "those Chinese-Japanese hybrids that are beginning to pop up around town, advertising 'discount sushi'" in his home city of NYC. In restaurants and grocery stores alike, discounted items are usually those about to go bad ... and who wants to mess around when it comes to raw fish? There may be a difference between sushi and sashimi, but both involve uncooked seafood, so Bourdain's advice applies to either one equally.

Anthony Bourdain published "Kitchen Confidential" in 2000. Much later, in 2016, Bourdain reflected on the "no fish on Mondays" thing (which, by then, had blown up into an iconic part of his brand) and, in an interview with Insider Tech, recanted the statement ... to some extent. "That was 16 years ago; it was a very different world," he explained. He went on to explain that American palates had evolved and that the exploding popularity of more historically exoticized foods like sushi had led to the nation demanding a higher quality of food in their grocers and eateries. Whether you favor East Coast or West Coast sushi styles, you are likely to find higher-quality fish in your roll in 2025. That's largely because the demand and expectation for better ingredients both exist.

With all that said, you still should be far more careful about the seafood you consume than any other class of food that you eat. Food poisoning from seafood won't necessarily make you any sicker than eating contaminated beef, pork, or vegetables, but it's more likely to occur due to the high perishability of the stuff. There is a fine line between wholesome seafood and the kind that has spoiled, and trust is of the essence when you are sourcing it. It still makes sense to be wary of discounted seafood, and especially sushi, which is eaten without the protection of cooking.