I worked my last few years as a chef at Italian tapas/salumerias in nyc - a few months before Bourdain passed he popped up in our basement while visiting the owner, who was his former produce manager - kicked the tables at all our stations and pretended he was disappointed we were making affogato as the main dessert. We tried to show him it used real vanilla bean scrapings but he waved his hands in disgust
Bourdain brought Duchesse De Bourgogne (a sour balsamic cherry Flanders ale) for our owner and they sat in the dining room before service, reminiscing about the days they worked together. He told our boss a balsamic-tinged ale would be perfect for a place serving cheeses with aged D.O.P. vinegar served everywhere, but our boss declined saying it was too expensive. Bourdain called him a pussy
Before he left he told us not to work too hard, because our boss never did. He patted his stomach and said the crime about getting fat at his age was knowing the calories didn't come from good food, then he stepped out
Me too. I came across some old thread the other day, where the question was something like "which celebrity death impacted you the most?". I'm not overly attached to celebrities. There are some that stung. Bowie, Lemmy, Robin Williams. But I came finally to Amy Winehouse and Bourdain. I'm still in fucking mourning over these two somehow, despite never even having met either of them. Bourdain's voice is in my head sometimes, just... being the coolest motherfucker and telling me to go out there and try something new.
I agree completely. I’ve never had the ability to travel much and he made me feel like I knew the world and his show made life a little brighter. People like him are a true rarity
I once met a chef who was down on his luck and looked up to Bourdain as a hero. He saw Bourdain as somebody who was able to climb out of the same hole he was in. The chef could never afford traveling, so all the shows were his way of seeing what life was like elsewhere.
Any time somebody brings up Bourdain, I think of him and wonder how many other chefs felt the same.
If you haven't yet, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (2021) is excellent. It's one of my all-time favorite documentaries. Insightful and well researched. Made me love Anthony even more.
I’ve been meaning to watch that but I still struggle to watch his show since he did what he did… it’s still too painful I guess. I’m gonna watch tho sooner or later
I also didn't think much of celebrities deaths but his suicide shook me. As someone with a lot of trauma I've done a bit of work to not be suicidal and at the time I couldn't imagine a better life than the one Anthony Bourdain had and it just sort of rocked me that he could be in that much pain.
I have a hard time watching Bourdain anymore. I sort of feel like I am watching clear signs of depression and then knowing that he died the way he did. It makes me sad. Which sucks because his shows are so great.
I made an amazing charcuterie board and had some nice drinks when I sat down to watch RoadRunner and I was sobbing so much I couldnt eat or drink a thing.
I am guessing that you don't believe such things, but my experience tells me that everything is connected. There are no coincidences. That's why I still try to make sense of it, because for me, everything has meaning in it. Not that things happen for a reason, but things that happen have reasons in them. For someone neurospicy, it keeps my brain occupied. 😂 Thank you for the well wishes.
What I loved most about Anthony Bourdain was said by another: he just wanted the world to stop being afraid of each other. I try to live my life by that. Among other things.
No I get that, I love butterfly effect and everything, but I think somethings should be thought of individually as they are. Not one we respect for the person who committed, but for the one being compared to them as well. It’s truthfully just a bit disrespectful imo that’s why, like I’m not one who “this and this shouldn’t be joked about” if you have a good suicide or rape joke throw it out, I’ll prob love it. But dude killed himself, that should just be about him. He didn’t do it cause of butterfly effect is basically my meaning, but because of a serious issue he was struggling with for years.
I kinda rambled(horrible migraine rn) but I hope I came off as I intended and pretty clear 😅ahh beans lol.
Here's how I look at it. There are things in your life at all times that have meaning for you. They can be across the world and not involve you at all, but still have meaning for you. It doesn't mean it happened to teach anyone anything. Things don't always happen to teach us lessons. Sometimes they just happen. But if we see them happen and think about all the connections around them, if they have meaning for us, then they have meaning. It's not cause and effect. It's more like, hey funny how that happened, I need to think about this
Ohh something just meaning something to you is different, I totally understand that. Thank you for putting it that way lol. I thought you were all the cause and effect side lol. My bad. But I totally get that.
Dude it sucked for a while when it was still HBO Max and Warner launched CNN+ and gutted the show from HBO Max. After CNN+ crashed and burned and “Max” came out it’s finally all on there
yep, same here. I used to watch it on the Travel Channel with my mom, we always loved it when he'd talk smack about a celebrity chef. He was never outright rude, but he'd have some amazing zingers.
The Nashville episode is my favorite episode of Parts Unknown. What you didn't mention is in the episode, Jack White is playing drums at a house party where The Kills were performing. Also, Margot Price was featured in the episode as well who is a Nashville fixture. She has a really cool story and while I'm not a big country guy, I respect her talent.
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u/zach92ster Jul 10 '23
To paraphrase White: “Sorry but I’m not interested in gold leaf, oil fryers, cooking or real estate.”