Anthony Bourdain

'In the end, you’re just happy you were there- with your eyes open- and lived to see it.'

Anthony Bourdain, for most of his life, was a food and travel documentarian/video journalist. Starting in 2002 and spanning all the way to his suicide in 2018, Bourdain produced and starred in numerous tv programs that revolved around traveling the world and eating as the locals do. Those shows are how I became familiar with Bourdain's work and legacy. He had also been a chef, of course, and an author, but most people grew familiar with him through tv programming such as No Reservations, Parts Unknown, and The Layover.

I watched a lot of food and cooking television as a child so I was aware of Bourdain as a youngster, but it wasn't until 2021 that I really dove into watching his programming and reading his books. When I first watched through Parts Unknown I was immediately hooked on the way Bourdain approached most everything with openess and curiousity. Combined with his dark humor, flat-out honesty, and his facination in the human condition, it all felt so comfortably similiar as someone who loves to read Vonnegut. Through every piece of Bourdain content I have consumed, he has remained a great comfort to me.

Parts Unknown, especially, held me through some of my worst times in my early 20's. More often than not, whenever I felt completely at a loss with myself or my life, I would curl into a ball on the living room couch, smoke as much weed as was available to me, and put Parts Unknown on Netflix. During those hours spent marinating on the couch I found it easy to lose myself in Bourdain's voice, in his attitude, his seeming eagerness to live and experience the next thing. It didn't matter how pointless my own world felt, Bourdain's interactions and introspections brought on by food made me feel hopeful. He impressed on me that you can have depression and still see the beauty in living.

It's hard to think about Anthony Bourdain without being reminded of his passing. In June 2018, at the age of 61, Bourdain took his own life while working on Parts Unknown in France. Longtime friend and colleague, Eric Ripert, found Bourdain after being concerned that Bourdain had not shown up for dinner the previous night or breakfast the following morning. I don't think it's appropriate to speculate on exactly why he made this choice, and I believe we will never know exactly what Bourdain was thinking of in those last moments. Instead, I think it's better to focus on the messages he broadcast throughout his life: being open to people and experiences, never stop trying new things, fuck British colonialism, and so on.