Edward Piercy

Anthony Bourdain

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 9:06:07 PM

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations, Culture, Food

Anthony Bourdain (center) in Sri Lanka.

Over the past few weeks I have become quite addicted to a show on the
Travel Channel. It's a cooking show, strangely enough. Or maybe it's a
travel show. In any case it is Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.

Anthony Bourdain is not just an ordinary travel show host. He is part
all-consuming chef, part gonzo travel writer, part 19th century
explorer, and part cultural anthropologist. I suppose it is the later
that drew me to the show when I first came across it. Like an
anthropologist in the field, Bourdain truly gets up close and personal
with people on the show and their culture. Sometimes in a particular
city he will visit with some old friend. But just as often he is making
new ones. And as viewers you become his friend as well -- he spends a
lot of time talking directly into the camera. Or at least glancing at
it every once in a while as he looks off into the distance, checking
things out.

He smokes cigarettes, unabashedly. He drinks just about any brand of
beer that comes his way. And of course most of all he eats. He eats
lots, without regard for cholesterol or sodium and without entering his
caloric intake into his cell phone. And yet he seems fit and slim. I
think the reason for that is simply that he walks. If he eats a lot, he
walks even more. Except perhaps for the trip in from and out to the
airport, or the occasional trip into the wilds, he spends a lot of time
as a pedestrian. He walks to restaurants he wants to visit, to a museum,
to another restaurant, to a famous local jazz joint, and back to whatever
hotel he is staying at. You rarely see him in a vehicle. All of which is
a good reminder that life really is about balancing things.

Bourdain visits famous landmarks and museums occasionally. And he
sometimes will dine at a famous world-class restaurant -- what chef
wouldn't. But he is just as likely to go off the beaten path and visit
a 150 year old sea-side tavern, an art gallery which sells paintings
on black velvet, or some mom-and-pop sandwich joint. In that respect
No Reservations is similar to Globe Trekker, except that Bourdain
is at once much more serious and much more irreverent. And far more
original.

Almost half the food Bourdain wolfs down on the show is eaten somewhere
out in the wilds -- grilled giant scallops with sweet onions on a beach,
blackened salmon on a camping trip, a breakfast of sweet and sour pork
in the middle of a jungle, gourmet sandwiches out on a picnic on a lava
desert in Iceland. All the food prepared by expert chefs, of course. To
me, at least, it was the outdoor feasts that usually looked the most
enticing for some reason. The vegetables served on the camping trip
outside Portland had my mouth watering and I soon had to hit the
refrigerator.

But these days the world can sometimes be a dangerous place. In an
episode which won an Emmy Award in 2007, Bourdain and his producer
and crew visited Beirut in July, 2006. As Bourdain notes, they arrived
very optimistic, exited about the food they were about to eat, excited
by the people that seemed ecstatic to welcome them there. But reality
quickly set in to the sound of automatic weapons fire in the distance.
And then, suddenly, things turned totally to shit. The Israeli-Hezbollah
war broke out and they were soon holed up in their hotel, prisoners of
circumstance. Luckily, the crew were among those who were eventually
evac'd by U.S. Navy ships. Bourdain had high praise for the U.S. Marines
on board who went around and talked with the evacuees and tried to
make them feel less fearful. And it was on board this ship that Bourdain
ate what might have been the most interesting food featured on his show,
a "high-school cafeteria" meal of chicken and noodles, corn dogs, and
macaroni and cheese. After all the uncertainty and stress and outright
fear, Bourdain says, "Nothing had ever tasted so good."

Which kind of puts things in perspective a bit.

Real LifeHubble Gets an Upgrade

Comments

Angelikiellinidata # Wednesday, May 20, 2009 9:15:02 PM

he is the man!!!
dont even have me started!
I love him almost as much as Johnny, his sarcasm and all!

Edward Piercyedwardpiercy # Wednesday, May 20, 2009 9:21:30 PM

He is so cool. And like this crazy genius or something. And you are so right about the humor -- that's one of the central enjoyments of the show for me.

That's a great photo. Thank you so much!

PainterWoman # Wednesday, May 20, 2009 10:05:43 PM

Rats! Why haven't I come across this show. Is it on basic cable?

Edward Piercyedwardpiercy # Wednesday, May 20, 2009 10:18:12 PM

It's on the Travel Channel (click on the link at the top of the post). Which here in Spokane at least is Ch. 36. I think that might be on basic cable but not sure. We get the digital cable version, which includes a lot of channels (but not the premium ones).

BTW, that black velvet art gallery Bourdain visited, he bought this small velvet painting of Mr. T., which he said that he just couldn't live without. LMAO.

Stardancer # Thursday, May 21, 2009 2:29:22 AM

I'll have to hunt this one down. I get the Travel channel.

Edward Piercyedwardpiercy # Thursday, May 21, 2009 2:50:36 AM

for the Travel Channel!

Especially considering I have zero money to travel anywhere.

Darkogdare # Thursday, May 21, 2009 4:03:54 PM

I have never heard of him. Maybe I would if I`d watch TV sometimes

But idea of traveling all around the world and try different food is excellent. I would like to do that

Btw, I like to eat and I am walker too

dɹɐzılpǝkɔıw ɐʞɐ ɹǝɥgɐllɐg lǝbɐsıwickedlizard # Friday, May 22, 2009 10:00:36 PM

I'm addicted!

Especially a man that cooks - mmmm...

let me sit on the couch for a change!

dɹɐzılpǝkɔıw ɐʞɐ ɹǝɥgɐllɐg lǝbɐsıwickedlizard # Friday, May 22, 2009 10:03:04 PM

He did one for the Azores awhile back! The biggest island to be precise -> Sao Miguel. A tourist trap there if you ask me...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-ZJXPaUC64

Edward Piercyedwardpiercy # Friday, May 22, 2009 10:51:47 PM

I saw he did an Azores one, but I haven't seen it yet. You should write him a letter letting him know that you are the much better island!

Oh BTW, the name of that Elvis Costello show is Spectacle. Sorry I spaced out and forgot to get back with you.

Anonymous # Tuesday, May 26, 2009 2:00:53 PM

Anonymous writes: I wish people would stop referring to this guy as some kind of cultural anthropologist--he is very very far away from that. Anthropologists spend a LONG time in the field--they don't go somewhere for a week or two with a camera crew in tow and boast about the special treatment they receive. And I find his shows very repetitive, his encounters with people are quite similar, his comments on the food ("Oh, that's good") are boring. Please stop insulting anthropologists by comparing what he does to their work!

Edward Piercyedwardpiercy # Tuesday, May 26, 2009 7:33:46 PM

I am an anthropologist. So I don't think I disrepect anthropologists.

It's a analogous statement anyway. He certainly isn't a 19th century explorer, either. Cause, you know, this is the 21st century.

Anonymous # Monday, June 1, 2009 10:17:32 PM

tass writes: good one eddie

Anonymous # Tuesday, September 21, 2010 5:59:34 PM

Warren writes: I think it was the episode in Loas that was his best. The the scene where his host had been mutilated by an unexploded piece of U.S. ordinance was both uplifting and gut-wrenching at the same time. I was on the verge of tears.

Edward Piercyedwardpiercy # Wednesday, September 22, 2010 1:08:58 AM

Yes, No Reservations does not always try to paint a pretty picture. Food is embedded in culture and culture is embedded in history. And history is often brutal.

Thanks for stopping by and for your Comment.