The Anthony Bourdain thread

just to confirm my isolation, what i knew about AB yesterday was "a chef"

yeah same, although these stories are all really moving

I always found the intro song to Parts Unknown a little irritating tbh, but now the lyrics seem prophetic

even as he admits, not a particularly great chef. Known as a writer/tv host/etc. His scatalogical punk-rock schtick could be pretty tiring and he actually didn't have as good a rapport with his interviewees as his buddy Andrew Zimmern (who has charmed every grandmother alive, though can be really annoying). And that's the bad stuff I have to say about Bourdain. The good stuff is that he was a sincere fan and curious and occasionally a surprisingly poetic writer who i think was best when he got political. Stuff like the Beirut episode of No Reservations was seriously good TV, and the Houston Episode of Parts Unknown was really beautiful.

I'm behind but just watched the final episode, the Hong Kong one with Christopher Doyle and it wasn't a great episode, but it had some great stuff as usual, and being a fan of Wong Kar Wai it was as always fun to watch Tony geek out around Doyle. Little snippets really stand out, like a few minutes of an umbrella repair man describing his process, that's just not your normal TV.

The show took chances and had fun with it, sometimes it failed and sometimes was great, sometimes hilarious and sometimes ridiculous. He was definitely a force of good in this world, if this is a world where we can all just agree that people everywhere like to make and share food and just want to be happy.

But then there was the Zamir episode in romania...

https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/let-s-revisit-anthony-bourdain-s-hilariously-disastrous-1826675726

"too dumb to pour piss out of a boot if instructions were printed on the heel” gave this tired weary household maximum lols, thank u outic

thanks for reminding me of that one, dan

zamir’s role as an effective fixer was rumbled so quickly, but his legend as an affable guy who made for mediocre television will live on

oh god that episode was so terrible <3

went to waffle house tonight as a salute. the pecan waffle is a pretty sublime thing.

it is!

where are people supposed to dine in salute when Guy Fieri dies, Noma?

This was the first thing I thought of this morning and devastated all over again.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/juliareinstein/marilyn-hagerty-anthony-bourdain-olive-garden

sigh. this is humility

where are people supposed to dine in salute when Guy Fieri dies, Noma?

i never watched more than a couple of eps of Parts Unknown, so digging in on Netflix today. A nice continuation of the No Resevations tone without as many gimmicks & a bit more depth. Good stuff

I remember being unusually excited when that Waffle House episode came out. It was my teenage hangout.

The Layover had some of my favorites from his series (like PU, less gimmicky than No Reservations) but it's been a while so they're blurry - San Francisco was good IIRC and he hung out with Iggy in Miami.

The No Reservations where they made him roller derby was good as far as gimmicks go.

Uh i beg to differ

Anthony in peru high on ayahuasca was

lol i think Tony’s long lasting legacy in addition to chef & travel dude should be “rolled ATV’s on camera for a living”

✔️ new zealand sand dunes
✔️ Colombian coastal flats

did you miss this?

no, I both saw that episode and made a joke

waffles clip made me cry, that guy was one of our best humans and FUCK whatever made him feel otherwise

I still stand by my pick for the Techniques episode upthread (the one where Jacques Pepin shows you how to cook an omelette, Thomas Keller shows you how to roast a chicken, etc.). It has never left my laptop since it aired - according to iTunes I've watched it 11 times.

Totally heartbroken...

Ernest Hemingway also only made it to 61. Hunter S Thompson was what, 67? Bourdain was a better force for good in the world than either of them. I haven't outright sobbed this much since Bowie.

(weird synchro-mysticsm: we're leaving for China on Monday so we've been watching old episodes this week in prep. Next Parts Unknown features, um, a friend in Berlin.)

_did you miss this?_


no, I both saw that episode /and/ made a joke

Watching Bourdain was what got me to finally try bone marrow many years ago. I still havent revisited organ meat. Bad experiences as a child via my grandmother’s love for offal has left me with deep scars

I honestly didn't know I would feel this upset about it or how he impacted so many other people. I wish he had known too.

rewatching the Techniques ep, the little signoffs from each chef about how they wished he was there with them <3

i get so drawn into watching him & laughing at his dumb jokes & the way he smartasses to camera with a sly grin like a punk kid wagging school & then I remember that he’s gone & it’s just so fucking sad

a lot of my fandoms go back to teens but he’s like one of my deepest fandoms of this back half of my life.

when he first showed up it was like I was being rewarded for loving rare steak & the new york dolls and reading all those burroughs books in college. he was like a fever dream, lol.

This is so sad Christ

Sudden memory of reading the "Adam Real-Last-Name-Unknown" chapter of KC in the bookstore when it came out and howling with laughter. Sure, don't eat fish on Monday but that chapter is amazing amazing writing.

otm

i haven't had a copy of Kitchen Confidential in years so I hit amazon to pick one up and didn't realize Bourdain had written so many other books; there are more actual 'food' books than I knew of (cookbooks) and several detective novels? has anyone read his fiction? i imagine it's actually awful but the reviews are not bad.

it’s okay. i found it a little cringey at first but once you settle in, it’s fine. i only read one of them, i cant remember off the top of my head which one now

his Les Halles cookbook is my favorite of all his books
the writing is like Julia’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking; it’s very comforting, like he’s standing there talking to you while you cook

Appetites is also great. Somewhere in there he talks about cooking through the lens of self-care - whatever pit you find yourself in, knowing how to cook for yourself and others will give you a good shovel.

talk of fieri's death has got me thinking about another future celebrity chef death

will definitely get a drum circle going once the big man takes naked chef jamie away from us

I guess Paul Bocuse was the other big time celebrity chef death this year.

(going to be really upset when Jacques Pépin passes)

julia child had a rose named after her

that's a beautiful homage

His first comic book/graphic novel is pretty cool - dystopian sushi chef grindhouse.

President Obama and Anthony Bourdain enjoy dinner and beer in Hanoi.

Fun fact: This restaurant in Vietnam was so honored by the visit, that they framed the table and stools. pic.twitter.com/hTorcNGg4N

— Denizcan Grimes (@MrFilmkritik) June 8, 2018

somehow I never really noticed how splayed out these two really tall dudes were, sitting on those little stools

Atlantic has a nice obit (and refrences the Congo episode)

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/06/anthony-bourdains-extreme-empathy/562454/

somehow I never really noticed how splayed out these two really tall dudes were, sitting on those little stools

As a tall American dude living in Vietnam, it can be challenging to eat on those stools

I always liked watching Bourdain's shows but my FB feed illustrated just how much of an impact he had on people here in Vietnam. At least five of my expat friends said their decision to move here was partly based on his love for the country. A lot of my Vietnamese friends also loved him deeply

kinda astonishing how many people loved bourdain. I wasn’t aware of it, but my (not on twitter) friend stopped by les halles today, and look at this makeshift shrine: pic.twitter.com/a1ZxoXu54P

— Alex Press (@alexnpress) June 10, 2018

that made me tear up

They need to take the facade and put it in the Met.

Not to chase conspiracy theories, but I hope the police etc. covered both erotic auto-asphyxiation and Black Cube.

wow you’re firing up the fan fiction machine early

sometimes a guy hanging himself in a hotel is just a guy hanging himself in a hotel

if there's something fishy I'd have thought chantix would be involved.

let's not do this

seriously!!