NEW YORK, NY - Those of us in the food industry are probably very familiarly acquainted with the brash and bold television personality and chef, Anthony Bourdain. After announcing that he will be pushing to create his own mega food market on New York’s Hudson Pier 57 in 2017, and then bumping that date back to 2019, Bourdain is now delving further into his plans for the undertaking in an interview with Vogue magazine.
“I feel in my bones this is a space that New Yorkers should be able to call their own, and I find myself in the ludicrous position of being able to make that happen, apparently,” Bourdain tells the fashion mag. “I’m going to make it happen if I can, or fail gloriously.”
Bourdain’s vision for the 155,000-square-feet structure is a unique one, at least for the United States. He sees it being similar to the big food halls found in Tokyo, Barcelona, or Bangkok. The article notes that Bourdain has created an identity around street food, and his mission for his own food market is to emulate that through persuading actual shop owners from these places to move to his own.
“You bring the people in who know what they’re doing and you let them do it. You bring in the guy who’s the best chicken-and-rice guy in Singapore and just let him do his thing,” Bourdain said. “Bring in his own signage. I’m not building some arty thing.”
It’s clear Bourdain is confident in his mission from the interview, and when you look at not only his popularity, but the growing strength of the types of food trends we’ll likely see in the market, it’s not hard to see why. Tastes are changing to be both more global and more produce-focused.
“People are lining up for food that would have burned their head clean off their shoulders ten years ago,” Bourdain notes. “People are craving and lining up to eat kimchi, which, you know, they would have bullied a kid for eating ten years earlier if they brought it with their lunch.”
To read the full article, including more in depth details on the market and some rather juicy personal details on the famed foodie, click here. And keep tuning back in to AndNowUKnow for continued details on one of our favorite industry trend setters.
