All the big news about his death prompted me to read Kitchen Confidential. What an eye-opener! He certainly had a very, very troubled youth, and it’s not really clear that the troubles ever ended. I must confess that all I knew about him until then was that he had a show on CNN and some people really didn’t like him.
The funniest part of the book that sticks in my mind was his interview for the chef’s job at a New York steakhouse, when the Scottish owner leans over and, in his thick Scottish brogue, asks the apparently critical make-it-or-break-it question: “what do you know about me?”. I feel it would be a spoiler to reveal the punchline of the story, so I won’t!
He struck a good balance in that regard. There’s a good chapter in his book about how much he enjoys good old-fashioned home cooking, which leads up to saying in essence “but, if you want to prepare meals that look like they were prepared by a professional chef in a restaurant kitchen, here are some tricks of the trade …”
He does podcasts. The quote is from the Cavemen/Naps episode. Haven’t seen anything about him touring in some time. Still does some acting. Just waiting for Pretty Woman 2.
I have belatedly come to realize my wife has a serious problem with depression, and to my layman experience with the side effect of anti-depression meds. Even if I had recognized this and been proactive, not sure the outcome would be any different today. MOre or less two years ago my wife “left” and some stranger has come back. We decided Friday to end 24 years of marriage, and she’s moving back to China to probably disappear from our lives. She has zero interest in therapy, acknowledging where she is at, no plan to even consider getting off of anti depressants, and has made a string of disastrous decisions over the past 2 years and making more by the minutes. It’s sad to see my wife a shadow of what she was. I’m at a loss of what could possibly be done, and now just trying to salvage my three girls. Shit happens.
I do have a regret that I was clueless at what depression can wreck on lives.
So sorry to hear this. Was it the move to the States you think? I imagine the combination of culture shock and the stress of moving could be life-altering for some people.
At any rate best wishes and I hope you and your girls can get through this okay. And that your wife can at least land safely to some sort of support back in China.
I’m a big fan of Bourdain and have read all his books and cookbooks, many of them several times. Of course, his TV shows are also very well written and show countries and cultures not often highlighted elsewhere.
His fiction is entertaining but is not at all profound. His cookbook is kind of hit or miss too. So what? He had a gift at combining extensive knowledge, a deep interest in food and culture, a rare talent at discussing potentially pretentious topics in a practical and unpretentious way, an ability to bring out the best in other people and serious writing skill.
I think a lot of people, and often successful celebrities, are pressured into overwork and the demands of heavy travel and the next creative thing. It’s a shame. He had such a unique perspective. I just finished his book “Gone Bamboo” which had been sitting around for months. In that book, he calls suicide “utterly selfish”. It is amazing how often Bourdain’s opinion seems to be the right one.
thanks for the well wishes. Ther’s some bat shit crazy in the gene pool. That said, post partum depression after the twins were born was pretty bad and would not seek treatment. Raising a child on the autism spectrum is not an easy thing and we went through 5+ years of being sleep deprived. Leaving a huge extended family and multiple nannies was tough, and some serious culture shock that she wouldn’t recognize in the US was a strain. Toss in self medication for anxiety that morphed into depression with prescribed meds but no plan to try get off of said meds, nor any real counseling combined with some really crappy decisions, manic investments of serious dollars and some serious doubts if my youngest can be safely left alone makes this imperative to solve. She’ll take at least half our assets and move back to Shanghai. I wish her well, and I will become a single dad of 3 girls with one off to Chapman University Film School and a set of 8 grade twins to raise. That’s about as neutral as I can put it.
Even if I had recognized this depression train wreck coming down the track, I’m not sure that it would have made a difference to someone that views therapy and psychiatrists as the anti Christ.
Just started listening to a rerelease of an old episode of Whaddya Know with Michael Feldman and it was a shock to hear Boirdain’s relaxed and cheerful voice
I knew almost nothing about Bourdain before his death - I saw commercials for his shows from time to time, but that was it. Since his passing, he strikes me as being quite the guy.
I love to travel, but food usually isn’t a big part of the experience, so he would not have been someone whom I would have sought out. I’m glad to have learned about him in the last few weeks, though. It is clear that he touched a lot of lives.
I was vacationing when I heard the news of his death. Shocked and a little heartbroken. I was not a huge fan of his, but watched enough of his shows and read enough of his writing to feel like I got to know him somewhat. It was sort of like losing a distant friend; like when you are reading a good book and start caring about the characters, and get bummed when one of them dies. He seemed genuine in his views and portrayed himself as a humble everyman. It is a bit of a loss with him gone off the airwaves.
Watching “Parts Unknown” right now and I’ve figured out what I liked best, and what was brilliant about his shows, was he was just this sarcastic, cynical, but personable guy who had the attitude of someone that was not necessarily [wherever he was] by choice, but was making the best of it for the camera, and I totally relate to that (minus the camera, of course ;)).
I had never heard of Anthony Bourdain until this thread, and having remembered it…
On my flight back from Canada today they had 4 episodes of parts unknown for viewing. I watched 3 of them.
Two of the episodes had his friend Eric Ripert. One was with Asia Argento, I believe it was the first time they met. Even watching the episode I knew that she was the girlfriend talked about here(didn’t remember her name at the time I was watching). They had chemistry.
I wonder about the airlines decision to only play those episodes. Seems rather, I don’t know, cruel?
I came home and googled his death only to find out that Ripert was the one who found him and Asia was his girlfriend. That made me all kinds of sad.
My son found his best friend hanging in the garage last year. His friend was living with him(at my ex husbands home) and had been living there for a year at that point. They knew he was depressed, that he was on meds, that he struggled and that he had stopped taking his meds. My son went golfing, leaving the friend at home probably alone for the first time in a year, and came home to find him. He was 19.
Needless to say there are a lot of triggers in the family. My daughter was down the street when the ambulance pulled up, she can’t hear sirens without having an anxiety attack, my son doesn’t sleep. And I have no idea why my ex hasn’t burned that damned garage to the ground at this point.
My heart goes out to Eric Ripert. To Asia’s children. And to anyone who has ever been the one to find the body. Goddamn.
“I’ve eaten things you people wouldn’t believe. Greek cheese on fire off a shoulder of Lamb. I ate sea-beans that glitter in their dark sauce near the Tannhäuser Cafe. All those dishes will be lost in time, like beer in rain. Time to dine.”
