#19: Writing the atmosphere of experience: A spoonful of the sauce Anthony Bourdain left behind
I will always miss Anthony Bourdain.
His book, Kitchen Confidential, sat on my bookshelf for years before I actually picked it up. And that was it; I was late to the party, but I was hooked.
I quickly read his follow up, Medium Raw, and then absorbed every episode of his shows: Parts Unknown, No Reservations, The Layover. Probably twice.
Does that make me a Bourdainian? Fine, I’m it; I'm one of them.
What people who haven’t connected with his work don’t understand about the Bourdain legacy, and the tribe of loyalists that feel his absence from this earth, is the atmosphere he created with every word he wrote.
You see, Anthony Bourdain was not a chef; he was a cook; an underdog. Kitchen Confidential was a confessional about life inside the kitchen and it was a hit. Writing that book changed his life; it turned him into a writer - and then a TV personality - and he left the kitchen work behind him.
True to form, his shows were not the regular ‘TV-chef-makes-a-meal’ fare. They were the documentation of the edgy and introspective escapades of a boundless man. He wrote each script like a diary entry. They were him; his thoughts, ideas, and understanding of the world on a roving plate.
Anthony Bourdain was an atmospheric writer. A rare combination of food-meets-travel-meets-accidental journalist - meets modern philosopher.
His life became a sojourn dedicated to experiencing as an art form; as if he were mopping up every drop of a sauce not to be wasted. He crystallised the energy, the moment in time and the political, geographical and social climate of every place he visited.
He traipsed through places many of us will never get to see. He took the roads less travelled. He shared what he learned, ending each episode with an irreverent insight: A man changed yet again.
He was a modern explorer and a modest narrator; telling us stories that connected us to other people and revealed the human parts of ourselves.
Bourdain wasn’t a legend is his lunchbox; he was an unlikely hero who waded through the global soup and showed us how to appreciate every flavour.
His work reveals how we can expand to see the world and what happens if we humble ourselves to experience.
If you haven't yet, do yourself a favour and dip in.
That without experimentation, a willingness to ask questions and try new things, we shall surely become static, repetitive, moribund. ~ Anthony Bourdain, Medium Raw
The journey is part of the experience - an expression of the seriousness of one's intent. One doesn't take the A train to Mecca. ~ Anthony Bourdain, A Cooks Tour
“If you’re twenty-two, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel—as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them—wherever you go. ~ Anthony Bourdain, Medium Raw
Lying in bed and smoking my sixth or seventh cigarette of the morning, I'm wondering what the hell I'm going to do today. Oh yeah, I gotta write this thing. But that's not work, really, is it? It feels somehow shifty and . . . dishonest, making a buck writing. ~ Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential
Real all about it
How to Live, According to Anthony Bourdain on Munchies by Vice
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