Anthony Bourdain

About

Anthony Bourdain was an American chef, writer and television personality. Among the most popular chef and influential chefs and food personalities of his generation, Bourdain was known for his approach to "street" food found in towns and cities around the world. He died of an apparent suicide in 2018.

History

Writing

On April 19th, 1999, after nearly 30 years as a chef, Bourdain published the New Yorker article "Don't Eat Before Reading This,"^[1] a first-person account of life in professional and up-scale kitchens and restaurants. The article became the basis for Bourdain's first best-selling book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.

Kitchen Confidential ^[2]turned Bourdain into a celebrity, both because of his candor and insight, revealing true stories of life in the culinary world as well as his own drug use. Some referred to him as the "original rockstar chef," inspiring a number of chefs in the process.

Fox produced a television series of the same name based on the book in 2005. The show lasted for one season.

Bourdain published a follow-up book nearly 10 years later, Medium Raw.^[3]

Television

Following the release of Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain embarked on a television career, first on the Food Network series A Cook's Tour in 2002. The show ran for 35 episodes and ended in 2003.

His follow-up series, No Reservations for the Travel Channel, was an immediate hit, earning two Emmy awards. The show followed Bourdain as he visited restaurants around world, focusing heavily on street food and culinary favorites of locals. The show ran until 2012.

In 2013, his series Parts Unknown premiered on CNN. That year, Bourdain and the series were honored by the Peabody Awards for "expanding our palates and horizons in equal measure." The show ran until Bourdain's death in 2018.

Death

On June 8th, 2018, was found dead of an apparent suicide in his hotel room in France, where he was filming an episode of Parts Unknown.

CNN^[5] tweeted a statement following the new. It said, "It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain. His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller. His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredible difficult time."

CNN^[4] president Jeff Zucker also said in an email to employees, "Tony was an exceptional talent. Tony will be greatly missed not only for his work but also for the passion with which he did it.

Reputation

Bourdain was known for his "bad boy" persona, use of profanity and predilection for non-pretentious street food as well as exotic local foods.

Personal Life

Broudain married his first wife in 1985. They divorced in 2005.

He had a daughter with his second wife, whom he married in 2007.

Throughout his life, Bourdain was a smoker and a drinker. He also admitted to drug use in his book Kitchen Confidential. He wrote, "We were high all the time, sneaking off to the walk-in refrigerator at every opportunity to 'conceptualize.' Hardly a decision was made without drugs. Cannabis, methaqualone, cocaine, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms soaked in honey and used to sweeten tea, secobarbital, tuinal, amphetamine, codeine and, increasingly, heroin, which we'd send a Spanish-speaking busboy over to Alphabet City to get."^[6]

Search Interest

External References