Anthony Bourdain – A tribute

Today the world lost Anthony Bourdain, a gifted story teller, a great chef and someone who I’ve long considered a hero in the food world and beyond. Bourdain had an incredible way of describing food, but not just in superficial way like “this is fucking delicious,” though he did that too, but in a way that brought it life. You’d sit in your living room, riveted and drooling, as he’d take a bite of something unfamiliar, and you’d think “I want to eat that.”

Bourdain could talk to anyone, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t glean new insights, ask the right questions and bring personal insight into the conversation. He could offer a glimpse into any dish having conversations with local chefs, politicians, expats, grandmas, friends, really anyone who would have him.

What made his shows, No Reservations and later Parts Unknown, so incredible was that he looked beyond food, but food was always the window into another world. Food tells us so much about a person, a family, a city, a country – it speaks in ways that sometimes people cannot. The ability to capture 100’s years of oppression in Myanmar or Iran, through their cuisine, is something that I doubt anyone will be able to replicate.

My understanding of oppressive regimes, counter culture, off the beaten path restaurants, are all things that I learned from watching these shows. They weren’t just food shows or travel shows, they were cultural quests to better understand our world.

I can’t possibly count how many times since being turned on to his books and his shows that I have sought out hidden gems and sought to learn about why they serve what they serve. One memorable example was when I traveled to Peru back in 2009. Before I went, I found an old episode of No Reservations trip to Lima. I wanted to eat and learn from his experience – and I did. The foods they ate were different, like guinea pig and alpaca, and not to mentioned 100’s of types of potatoes. But why? What about their climate and their culture made this a bedrock to their cuisine? That was the sort of learning experience I would often have, in part, because of Bourdain and his quest for the unknown.

I’m sure I could go on, finding more examples of restaurants I ate at, meals I shared with friends, trips I took, that lead back to him, but I digress. Anthony Bourdain will be missed by his family, his daughter and everyone out there who dared to try something new.