We Need Another Anthony Bourdain
Nobody Made Sense of the World Quite Like He Did
I remember the first time I watched “No Reservations,” Anthony Bourdain’s long running show on the Travel Channel. He was taking suggestions from people on where to go next, and the winner was a woman who wanted to take him to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The always smoking, always drinking, habitually open for anything Bourdain said, “Sure.” And for the entire episode, he was the quintessential duck out of water. But he was gracious, engaging, talkative, narrating what we were all thinking, and by the time he sat down with the woman’s family for a home cooked meal, I was hooked. This was a guy who could get along with anyone, go anywhere, and have the time of his life.
Subsequent episodes only stoked my interest in the show further. A 2006 episode that began as a renaissance in Beirut quickly went sideways when after the first scene being shot, a full out war between Israel and Lebanon broke out. The rest of the episode plays out with him and the crew corralled at the hotel pool, watching helicopters shuttle in soldiers as bombs from fighter jets are dropped on the populace below. Bourdain, well aware of the horrible contrasts begged not to air any of the footage, while the network planned to air it all. When Bourdain narrates that episode, you can sense his utter regret, his moral apprehensions and empathy for the civilians who were not so lucky being articulated. He leaves an open ended portrait of the episode, sad, ambiguous and even a little bit hopeful.1
But what made Bourdain great was that he was human. He was working class, a line cook and then upscale chef by profession. He knew how people toiled day to day, he lived it. He was a former heroin addict, a junkie turned survivor who kicked the habit and transferred his obsessions into other things. Wherever he went, he was able to talk with locals, share a meal, enjoy the simplest of pleasures and pleasantries, have a drink with someone he just met and have a good time. He didn’t care who you were, what your ideals or politics were, what you did for a living; all that mattered to Bourdain was who you were in that moment, in the present, and how you treated him and others. When it came to service employees, he always made time and treated them particularly well, because he’d been there, he’d done that hard work, often for little pay.
And as I sit here and reflect on how it’s been 7 years since Anthony Bourdain died, I can’t help but think his whole attitude about life is what we are all just sorely missing right now. We’re cooped up in our silos. We’re keeping our heads down transfixed by whatever we’re scrolling, we’re not attentive to the aromas, the rhythms, the presence of everyday life, like Bourdain always seemed to be and point the camera at. The livelihood and sounds of street life are pretty barren and rote, and perfunctory these days. We can’t see the life in the day to day, only the monotony and rabble of the 9 to 5.
As America becomes a little more introverted, and cut off from the rest of the world, and as antipathy towards the global culture grows, we could use someone like Bourdain right now. Someone who could make sense of the world and it’s idiosyncrisies. Someone who is at home both having a souvlaki from a street vendor in Athens, to having the best wines in a chateau in Provence. Someone who would not hesitate to go to some place Americans shun like Iran or Congo or Guatemala and have something to eat with locals as they drive their cars up and down the main drag of a town. Someone who could just be a friend to whoever was there, point a camera at whatever you were doing, and say “What do you want to say to the world?”
Because the more we watched Bourdain interact with all these other cultures, the more we felt we were doing it to. We felt better when we watched Anthony Bourdain, and the world felt like a smaller place because of him. It felt like a more open and friendlier place. If Bourdain were here today, he’d have an episode in Kyev, having a shot with Zelenskyy, he’d have an episode in Riyadh commenting on how much has changed in the 20 years since he first went to Saudi Arabia, and he’d go to some backwoods, rural country bar in the United States somewhere and have a good time with the locals.
Because deep down, we’re all the same, we want the same things in life. And nobody demonstrated that better, than Anthony Bourdain.
PurpleAmerica’s Recommended Stories
Bourdain’s shows “No Reservations” and “Parts Unknown” have all of their episodes on Max. They are all worth your time but some are better than others; for instance many of the high scale restaurant episodes aren’t as good as you’d think. He’s better when he goes off road and just sees the country.
No Reservations: Season 4, “Saudi Arabia.” This was the first one I saw, and Bourdain is both laughingly miserable and joyfully entertaining as he enjoys the Arabian Penninsula.
No Reservations: Season 2, “Beirut.” What starts out as an interesting modern take rapidly goes down a spiral fast. He would return four years (in Season 6 of No Reservations) and also for an episode on Parts Unknown, Season 5, Episode 8.
Parts Unknown: Season 1, “Libya.” The Arab Spring had just occured and Tony gets confronted by local warlords as he looks at Qadaffis palace ruins. It ends with a particularly hopeful denouement.
Parts Unknown, Season 8, Episode 1, “Hanoi.” Tony shares a beer and bun cha with Obama and it’s worth it.
Parts Unknown, Season 4, “Iran.” Probably the single best look at Iran by an American journalist (even though he never saw himself as one) ever. Interviewee, Jason Rezian was jailed shortly after in the notorious Eban Prison, something Bourdain always felt regret about even after Rezian told him he had nothing to do with his jailing.
Parts Unknown, Season 9, “Antarctica.” Bourdain goes all the way to the South Pole and shines a light on all the people doing scientific study on the coldest area of the world. A great look at something few ever see.2
Parts Unknown, Season 9, “Laos.” Nobody ever talks much about Laos, even though it played a huge role during the Vietnam era, and many of the mines planted there then still are causing problems to this day. Bourdain brought this issue to light in a very poignant discussion.
Parts Unknown, Season 2, “Jerusalem.” One of the most profound episodes. Bourdain travels across Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank. He sees nationalism and the Apartheid-esque nature of security in and around Jerusalem. It ends with a conversation with an Israeli man who had lost his daughter from a mortar talking about this “big ugly wall” and how things need to change. In the 12 years since this first aired, they hadn’t.3 Its a time capsule reminder of what Gaza was before they leveled it, and what the feeling is toward the ongoing conflict on all sides.
PurpleAmerica’s Cultural Corner
If you’re looking for something great to watch, check out the documentary film on Bourdain, “Roadrunner.” It’s worth it. It tracks his career, his personal life, his rise to fame, his failures, and his inner demons through the voices of those who knew him best.
PurpleAmerica’s Obscure Fact of the Day
The four places he traveled to the most during his years on No Reservations and Parts Unknown were Italy, France, Japan and New York City.
The opening music for Parts Unknown was created by his friend, Queens of the Stone Age musician, Josh Homme.
PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject
“It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn.”
“Without experimentation, a willingness to ask questions and try new things, we shall surely become static, repetitive, and moribund.”
—Anthony Bourdain
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Footnotes and Fun Stuff
Years later, he would return to Beirut on his CNN program “Parts Unknown.” It remains one of my favorite episodes.
On another note, I had the luxury of working for a man and good friend named Dan Marrone, who was very proud of his son who was an astrophysicist studying black holes. In this episode, Dan’s son makes an appearance, and it felt like I already knew him. Dan passed away not long ago, R.I.P. Dan.
In fact, they’ve gotten worse.
He visited my town, Detroit, in Parts Unknown (actually he may have also done so in No Reservations, but I don't recall that one). I never felt prouder of my city and honestly, I learned so much about a place I'd been most of my adult life.
I do agree that his open curiousity about the world is much needed these days.
Parts Unknown: Houston was great, though given the timing of the episode, maybe a bit too overt with its political message. But I liked that it made a positive, strident, case for a multicultural America.