Remembering Anthony Bourdain

A few days ago I booked a last-minute flight and headed to the Greek island of Corfu for some R&R. I landed just after 10pm and was greeted with that familiar buzz of arriving in a new place, for the first time, late at night. I soaked it up, standing outside the airport and getting my bearings, as I felt the warm breeze against my bare arms and the lingering scent of jasmine in the air. My stomach rumbled as I pondered my favorite question when travelling – where shall I grab my next meal?

The hotel I was staying in had many perks – it was moments from the beach, had an exceptional breakfast and friendly, welcoming, staff – but one of the best parts of it was that it had a library. A throwback to travel in days gone by, pre-kindle, when you could make wonderful discoveries on random bookshelves in far-flung places. I’ll always remember picking up a battered copy of Comfort Me With Apples by

Ruth Reichl

at a guest house in Thailand (I loved the title even though, at that point, I didn’t know the author) and realizing that writing about food could actually mean writing about life. That memoir was one of the inspirations behind my first book and I love it so dearly I re-read it every few years.

On this trip, quite unexpectedly, I spotted A Cook’s Tour by Anthony Bourdain in the hotel library. As I pulled the book’s spine from the shelf, I noticed it was a signed copy (though whoever worked at the bookshop where he signed this had put the sticker over the title of the book, which, as a fellow author, genuinely annoyed me!). That aside, it felt both poignant and kinda weird to be holding something he also once held, 20 years after the book was first published, knowing he is no longer with us. 

If you haven’t read it, A Cook’s Tour is the brilliant follow-up to Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain’s sensational debut, and is the book that started him on a journey for which he became best known – traveling around the world, purportedly in search of the perfect meal, but actually talking to us about the complexities of what makes us human.

It's a raucous and bombastic read. Very much of its era, with equal amounts of bravado and humility, but with a thoughtful and sensitive understanding of class and privilege too. It’s also very, very, funny. I find so much food writing unbearable these days, it’s either overly twee, flat and uninspiring, or written with such basic political posturing you feel like you're reading a student’s college essay.  Reading A Cook's Tale though, I was simply impressed and struck by something that I feel has gotten lost in recent years, as the media’s focus honed in on his TV shows, love life, or the circumstances of his death. Namely, that he was a fucking great writer. I found myself laughing out loud at so many sections, such as this one, about a certain British chef… 

I didn’t know Tony personally though, for a brief while, I was tangentially in his orbit through the publication Roads and Kingdoms, in which he was a partner and I was a collaborator. I met him a few times, presented a couple episodes about Tokyo and Okinawa on a mini-series he was involved in, and interviewed him once on stage. I will always be grateful that he generously gave me a great quote for my Palestinian cookbook Zaitoun.

One of the last times I remember chatting to him was at a launch party for a season of Chef’s Table in late 2017 at Mission Chinese in New York’s Lower East Side. As we knocked back beers and chowed down on face-numbing and tongue-stinging mapo tofu, somehow we ended up in a conversation about how we all thought we would die. It was morbid but entertaining. I shared that it was definitely going to be cancer for me, one of my biggest fears. He joked that it was probably going to be something far more tragic for him, like being run over by an ice cream truck driven by a clown (he famously hated them). We laughed, downed our drinks, and I didn’t think much of that conversation again until six months later, on June 8th 2018, when the news came through that he had died, in circumstances so much more tragic than the one we’d joked about. 

I only realised about halfway through writing this post that this week is the fifth anniversary of his death. I don’t want to add my voice to the chorus of people with unfounded speculations about his death, but I will say that I can empathize with how exhausting it is to put on a performance in the public eye when your life is going to shit and I also know from personal experience how extensive travel can take its toll.

What I’ll add is that the world is emptier without his presence and I’ll always be thankful for his contribution to it. His work championing the stories of marginalized people leaves an unmatched legacy, especially his Parts Unknown episodes on Iran (season 4: episode 6) and Jerusalem (season 2: episode 1) which were sensitive and powerful pieces of reportage on topics that are hugely difficult to talk about in the US media. 

“The world has visited many terrible things on the Palestinian people, none more shameful than robbing them of their basic humanity” Anthony Bourdain

When I started this Substack, it was out of curiosity about where we find hope in a world that feels like it's imploding – a question I’ve asked myself, asked my friends and asked prominent personalities I’ve interviewed countless times. So in tribute to Tony and what he learned from his travels, I thought I’d share a short clip from the end of an interview I hosted with him about six months before he died, where I asked him, why motivates him to keep doing the work he does? And what gives him hope? The video is a little jumpy and the sound isn’t great (it was recorded by a member of the audience who later shared it with me) but still, I watched it today and it made me smile.

It’s my last memory of being in the same room as him and it’s a special one. He was reflective, tender and hopeful about life and humanity that night. You can read Eater’s round up of our conversation here. Watching it felt good to be reminded that, despite there being so much awfulness in the world, there is a lot of goodness out there too. You just have to stop and notice it.

Loading video

“I do it because the world is a good place. And it’s filled with many scary things, ugly things – cruelty, horror, random acts of oppression and violence – but it's also filled with random acts of incredible beauty and kindness. 

I have to be hopeful. I see so many beautiful things, so many beautiful relationships, so many little moments of the values that I, we, all aspire to – loyalty, love, devotion, generosity. I see them because I am the recipient of these things…because I travel…” Anthony Bourdain

What is your favorite Bourdain moment? Have you read A Cook’s Tour? And what does his legacy mean to you? Let me know what you think in the comments.

And RIP Big Man.

Yasmin x