Unconscious Anthropologist

Life does not suck, and neither does food, according to Anthony Bourdain. Most people know him as the host of the Travel Network show No Reservations, where Bourdain travels around sampling the world's cuisine including the fancy (foie gras), the stinky (durien fruit - smells so bad it is banned on airplanes), the bizarre (sheep's head), to the holy sh*5 he actually ate that (still beating heart of a cobra). He is probably the most palatable of the celebrity chefs. I just can't see Rachel Ray blowing chunks in a Russian alley, running naked into subzero lakes, or actually not liking one dish she tastes (just once I want her to complain about the service or send her food back

However, probably less known are Bourdain's writing skills. He was catapulted into the spotlight with his kitchen expose, Kitchen Confidential, where he outed the behind the scenes of most kitchens for what they really are, the last bastion of American machismo. Although I have always been amazed by his underlying anthropological skill, he seems to seamlessly blend cultural traits together with the common thread of food consumption, and the knowledge that best food comes from the poorest regions of a country. No where is on display better than in A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal. The book starts with a letter to his wife from the worst hotel in Cambodia, the place with questionable stains on the wall of the bathroom, undiscovered species of bugs on the floor, and still under the control of the Khmer Rouge who appear to have turned over new life and started a casino in Pailin. The 2nd chapter really demonstrates the power of his writing by examining his complex relationship with his brother on a reunion trip to France, this is really the genesis of Anthony Bourdain as a classically trained French Chef. This may also explain his fascination with Vietnam the subject of three chapters in the book. He also travels to Russia, Portugal, Morocco, Northern California, Japan, England, and Scotland. Wherever he goes he is all about the food and the people that make it. He dines in fancy restaurants but also food markets eating the street fare that everyone eats. In this action, he tells us more about the heart of a country in a few pages then most people do in a lifetime.

At times, Bourdain comes off as Hemingway meets Heart of Darkness in the age of globalization. He is the antithesis of the modern American, he smokes, he drinks, he eats high fat foods, chews red meat and doesn't care about his consumption of Omega 3s. This makes him an excellent ambassador to the world where the mere fact of survival in some parts is the best part of the day and the acts of living and eating are celebratory events. Bourdain's ability to ingest the food of some culture where most American would hurl, allows for some good will between countries in an era when that is disintegrating. Diet is a common thread in every culture and the diversity of it should be reveled in before the American franchises take over the world.