From Bourdain's blog:

Casey won the Quickfire. And for those commentators here who wonder what "heart" or "soul" means -- in relation to food (The judges frequently reward Casey with the remark that her food is somehow more "soulful" than others. That she has "heart") -- let me make it simple for you. They mean her food has a pleasing FLAVOR. Chefs usually mean -- when talking about "soul" ( or "heart") -- that the food has a depth of flavor that is both exciting and somehow, strangely, comfortingly familiar. As if the ingredients belong together the way macaroni and cheese -- or peanut butter and jelly -- or other, similarly beloved childhood combinations feel "just right." You can go pretty far out onto the edge and STILL manage to create "soulful" food. Thomas Keller, at his best, manages to do this with regularity, combining flawless - -even frighteningly advanced -- technique and flavors which evoke the shared memories of childhood. That he recognizes that human dimension displays "heart" and appeals to that indefinable part of us we call (for lack of a better word) the "soul". Got it now, conspiracy theorists? "Heart" does not mean "nice rack". "Soul" does not mean "looks like Jennifer Anniston". The woman is GOOD. How many times does she have to prove it? Give her the respect she deserves.

More from Bourdain:

As predicted, it was Brian who was sent home from the range. Not a tough call. Unlike me, Eric Ripert is a very diplomatic guy. He has had to be. He rarely bad mouths even the deserving. He is restrained in his disapproval. But I will tell you, from long experience and much alcohol with my Buddhist buddy, he hated Brian's dish. Given the dearth of suitable English adjectives in the mountains of Andorra (a country you probably haven't even heard of), from whence Ripert hails, I hope he won't mind if I translate his comments:

" Dry elk shank ... horseradish ... sour cream ... bourbon ... red wine, balsamic vinegar, garlic, cherries, sage butter ... and now you want me to choose between overwhelming blue cheeses? What the **** is THAT about?!"

My mad Bourdain love just continues to grow and grow. (Also enjoying the earworm from this week's blog title.)

On ANTM, I thought that non-plus size model Sarah's picture was beautiful. And I loved Lisa's photo as well. I think Ebony's beautiful, but I had to give it up to Ms. Jay (I know!) on the awkward, pin thin gams in the photo. I don't get the Asperger's girl. She's not so quirky/unattractive that she could fit into the "so ugly she's pretty" model category, but she's not stunning enough to make it into the "too beautiful for this world" category. I thought the Yalie took a great photo, but I think she's gonna start to grate on my nerves real soon. And WTF on Ms. Jay's hair? I laughed and laughed and laughed. I am enjoying Cycle 9 so far.

The same cannot be said of Survivor. Good grief, everyone on the yellow tribe is an enormous tool. I'm hoping for a royal Pagong-ing.

Top Chef: I was really uncomfortable with Colicchio's "we need to see more of you; we need to see you cook Vietnamese" comment to Hung. I don't see the other contestants getting asked to cook to their ethnic heritage. And further, as people pointed out in Bourdain's blog, cooking French is cooking to his heritage.

I'm fourth generation, and Hung is first, so I'm much further away from my country of ethnic background than he is. But if I turned up on a cooking show and you expected me to cook traditional Japanese food, you'd be sorely disappointed. I cook a couple of Japanese dishes, and there's generally a preponderance of sticky rice in my cooking. But even those dishes are filtered through Hawaii. A Japanese from Japan person wouldn't like them.

I guess I'm saying, I just don't see the relevance, and I'm pretty comfortable in saying the comment seems racist to me.

Has anyone seen this yet?

[link]

Yay! About time. I hope it starts soon.

And WTF on Ms. Jay's hair? I laughed and laughed and laughed.

Ack! I completely forgot about that!!! So funny!!! And he was totally dude-ing it up outfit wise as well.

And (Liese) I don't recall him saying anything of the sort to LeeAnn so I don't get where the remark came from.

Sumi and Liese, I think it came from how Hung has been talking about his background more (or they have been editing it that way), so Colicchio was calling him out on it. At least, that is how I took it.

Well, it kind of struck a nerve after a week of the whole Asian as technician discussion (not here) and then to have Ripert and others come out with the same thing. It's not that I like Hung - becuase he's not really my horse in this race but I don't want him to not win because of something so nebulous.