The Vietnam episode when he thought about living near a rice field. The San Francisco episode where he managed to hit every old school joint. The Thailand episode where he arrives at a moment of political unrest. The Jamaica episode exploring the food element of being a Rastafarian. How his Sichuan obsession made its way to Melbourne.
I watched a lot of Anthony Bourdain during the pandemic. Places I've been. Places I want to go. Food I want to eat.
These episodes came from Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, the best known of the Bourdain TV library. The Layover felt like a spinoff of sorts late in that era. A Cook's Tour ran on the Food Network from 2002-2003. This is the saga Bourdain refers to when approaching a place with a more mature outlook.
The even more mature approach came with Parts Unknown, Bourdain's final series. You might have your favorite chapter of Bourdain's TV work or you enjoy all of them.
You want to travel but can't, literally can't. You want to eat this food over what you are actually eating.
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"Where do you want to go today?" Like virtual reality but TV and streaming your way around the world. Last year, we focused on what Bourdain might do during the pandemic. Watching Bourdain was about what you would do if you could travel like it was 2019, not 2020 or even 2021.
Watching him travel and eat his way through the world was fun but frustrating in that you couldn't be there. You could make an analogy of watching porn vs. having sex but quite frankly, I would rather travel and eat in the Anthony Bourdain way than ever have sex or watch sex again.
The episodes did fill up time and gave some solace in a world where we couldn't just escape with a new travel and food adventure.
Hope is relative but watching Bourdain travel and eat around the world offered up hope for a better world.
Laurie Woolever interview on Q with Tom Power (CBC Radio One)
There are new projects, chances to get a final sense of Anthony Bourdain. World Travel: An Irreverent Guide from Laurie Woolever and Anthony Bourdain comes from Bourdain's long-time assistant. The project started before Bourdain's death in 2018. The book is more about travel than food.
Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain is a documentary from Morgan Neville (Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and 20 Feet From Stardom). The documentary features Bourdain clips and interviews with those who knew him well.
The film already debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival. The theatrical release is set for July 16. If you aren't ready for theaters, the documentary will run on HBO Max and CNN.
Tom Vitale, a long-time producer and director, will have a book out this fall. In The Weeds: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain has a release date of October 12.
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Bourdain talked a lot about death, his death in a lot of episodes. That wouldn't be as much of a surprise, even if he were still alive.
Andrew Zimmern came up a few times. I like Zimmern and also enjoyed the nudges Bourdain gave him. Zimmern does a very different perspective even if they both travel with food in mind.
A part of me still wants to have the kind of life he had: travel and eat. There is a need for such programming, though television isn't my strong suit. I am not as brave as he was for eating certain foods. His love for sea urchin is enough to get me to try some, eventually. I have some talents as a writer but Bourdain's ability to communicate the high-end and low-end in food is a tremendous gift.
Be a Traveler, not a Tourist
This is reportedly one of Bourdain's quotes. We might get a second chance to travel and appreciate other places on this planet. Go for neighborhoods; go for what is special where you are. Appreciate what you have and where you are.
photo credit: Instagram Anthony Bourdain
video credit: YouTube/Focus Features
