From a friend:
“I wrote this years ago today, when Anthony Bourdain took his life…
Anthony Bourdain wasn’t a “great" chef. (Most "celebrity chefs" aren't.) He was a solid, serviceable professional. And he was often the first to point this out, acknowledging that if not for his breakthrough memoir “Kitchen Confidential” (which he in later years affectionately called “obnoxious and over-testosteroned”) he probably would have hit sixty on creaky knees, banging out steak frites and falling into bed still reeking of garlic and fryer grease. But it was more than luck that made that first book a hit. He happened to be an extraordinary writer—droll, perceptive and brutally honest about the restaurant business, the world in general, and himself.
Some who disliked him never looked past “Kitchen Confidential” to see his remarkable evolution beyond the snarky “never order fish on Sunday” guy. He became a thoughtful and powerful critic of hypocrisy in the food industry, pointing out the often Neanderthal treatment of women and the dearth of real opportunities for people of color to advance beyond busing tables and washing dishes. And over the years his increasingly insightful observations about the places he visited added much to our understanding of other cultures.
Let’s remember though that in the end for him it was still all about food. And it wasn’t three-star, white tablecloth joints that turned him on; he always seemed happiest barefoot at a beachside fish shack, or eating nighttime street tacos at a little cart under a single light bulb, or crammed elbow-to-elbow with friendly strangers in some tiny alleyway yakitori joint.
Years ago he did a television show where he worked a busy shift in the restaurant kitchen he ran before becoming a media darling. Though he made it through with just a few minor mishaps it was clear the time had passed when he could hack the physical and mental stress of full-time kitchen work. But though he'd stepped away from the stove he never stopped singing the praises of those who work so hard to feed us. As someone who did time in many restaurants in my youth, many of his stories about the business made me laugh or cringe. I guess some things never change.
“When you take your place behind a professional range, start slinging food, and know what the hell you’re doing,” he once wrote, “you are joining an international culture in ‘this thing of ours.’ You will recognize and be recognized by others of your kind. You will be proud and happy to be part of something old and honorable and difficult to do. You will be different, a thing apart, and you will cherish your apartness.”
If you work in a restaurant and you’re sitting at the bar with the crew tonight after your shift, busting each others’ chops and cracking jokes about disasters averted or survived, take a moment to lift your drink to Anthony Bourdain. Despite the book tours and television and the fame he never seemed to fully embrace…that in some ways we'll never understand might have helped bring him to this sad end…he was always and forever one of you.”
by JayGatsby52
19 Comments
always
I feel like the bizarre cult of personality that has formed around this guy since his death would really make him uncomfortable if he were around to see it
I miss Tony so much. He was just Tony. No one special. He traveled and ate and became a social warrior in his own way and then there’s that Tokyo episode. 😂 I was at work when his death was announced and I just cried and cried.
Patron Saint of kitchens and travel
Beautifully said. In his own evolution he brought so many of us along with him. His class consciousness and insight into politically fraught places especially feel more relevant than ever.
I wonder if he’d have lived if he’d dug deeper into the horrific treatment the animals we eat suffer through. He advocated constantly for the mistreated and abused and to ignore how chickens, cows, and pigs (and others) are treated seems a discordant oversight.
he was my inspiration to becoming a chef. like him, i still consider myself as a cook rather than chef.
I am a cook because of Uncle Tony.
I was in my whites when I heard the news. My chef told me, we both had tears in our eyes but we didn’t say a goddamn word about it. “What’s your next task? You need help?” We are still good friends all these years later but we still haven’t talked about it. It’s still hard to process.
I cooked my way through film school. Might’ve filmed my way through cook school if things had gone the other way. He was a double saint for me. There are almost no others who stood up for writer filmmaker cooks. He was a consummate polymath.
I’m still so mad at him. And I miss him.
He had a wonderful mind. I miss him dearly.
…who you are. You are a prince! And my son…
I always hear the chant ‘one of us,one of us,one of us’ my head when I think of him. He turned a spotlight on the guy who has been giving 110% for a passable wage for his whole existence, and for that alone, he deserves massive plaudits.
It kills me everything I read about him driving home drunk and playing radio roulette whether he made it home. He got to do what he loved most, and that was travel and find spots where they served entrails of some animal in a style that would make him stay a week.
Most will never know how important he was to the industry, but we own the candle to keep him burning, so thank you for this post. Let’s keep Tony lit
I watch Roadrunner every now and again for a good cathartic cry. There are few people’s lives that still regularly have such a profound effect on my present in the way that his has. Rest in peace sir, you gave us all a platform to stand tall upon from galleys to basements, ballrooms to dives.
I still can’t rewatch any of his shows. It was and still is the most difficult high profile death for me. I miss him, but I’m so so grateful for all of the work he did highlighting the people and food cultures in such an honest and beautiful way.
This guy paid off his wife’s sexual assault accuser.
Sorry who is he?
In a world and an industry packed with so much bullshit, he was real. Honestly, I think that’s all it takes. We all deal with the shit, but his honesty about it made him one of us in a way that so many people try and fail to do.
Rest easy.