Uniting Cultures

Through Food

Ask 10 people to name their favorite Anthony

Bourdain moment and you’ll get 10 different an-

swers. Maybe it was the time he ate fermented

shark in Iceland. Or beef hearts in Lima. Or pro-

claimed Iranian pizza sauced with ketchup “not

bad.” What we can all agree on is that when

the chef, journalist and consummate straight-

shooter took his own life last year at age 61,

we lost one of our great cultural ambassadors.

Food was always in the picture: Bourdain

started his career working in restaurant kitchens

and never lost his passion for cooking and eat-

ing. But at the height of his fame, food was no

longer entirely the point. Instead, it became a

vehicle to address complex issues and to make

the foreign less foreign. (How scary could Iran

really be if the young adults there raced Amer-

ican muscle cars and drank beer, or finished

their night with a slice of pizza?) And Bourdain

was up for anything—or anyone. He sat down

with Hezbollah supporters, Israeli settlers and

Russian opposition leaders (at least one of

whom was subsequently assassinated). “You

like food and are reasonably nice at the table?”

he wrote in 2017. “You show me hospitality? I

will sit down with you and break bread.”

This was Bourdain’s gift to America, a coun-

try where food has become ever more visible

and fetishized. His adventures showed people

that a meal could feed inclusivity and accep-

tance, whether halfway around the world or

here at home. In a 2016 episode of his CNN

show Parts Unknown, on Houston, he de li-

ber ately steered clear of the familiar Texas

tropes and instead visited a popular venue for

Mexican- American quinceañeras and the Hous-

ton Indian Cricket Club, where snacks included

tandoori chicken and curried goat. “Close-

minded, prejudicial, quick to make assumptions

about places different than where we grew up.

I’m not talking about Texas. I’m talking about,

well, me and people like me who are way too

comfortable thinking of Texas as a big space

filled with intolerant and invariably right-wing

white people waddling between the fast-food

outlet and the gun store,” Bourdain said in the

intro to the episode.

“When he got political, that’s when he was at

his best,” says Tom Colicchio, chef and owner of

the Crafted Hospitality group of restaurants and

longtime judge on Bravo’s Top Chef. “He told

stories of the human condition through food,

and helped people to understand the world by

going out, enjoying and not being afraid.”

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY CNN

IN MEMORIAM

Anthony Bourdain, Celebrity Chef, Author and TV Host

84 EATINGWELL JULY/AUGUST 2019