Anthony Bourdain's Meal With Obama Was a Proud American Moment

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

There's a photo you've probably seen of Barack Obama and Anthony Bourdain hunched over a small table in Hanoi. Their sleeves are rolled up, their top buttons unbuttoned. The floor is speckled with dirt and a rusty fan blows air from a corner. Obama, a few months into his final year in office, is orating, and Bourdain is listening, really listening – he holds eye contact with the president and lets his shoulders relax.

All that separates the leader of the free world and the celebrity chef-turned-writer-turned-TV-host is a spread of local Vietnamese cuisine and some chopsticks and two open bottles of local beer (no glasses required). Their fellow diners are trying to act natural, but a woman at Obama's eight o'clock struggles to contain her excitement. And of course, the significance wasn't lost on the restaurant, Bun Cha Huong: the metal-topped table on the second floor is now encased in glass.

Bourdain tweeted the now-famous photo on May 23rd, 2016, four months before the accompanying episode of his Emmy-winning travel show Parts Unknown aired on CNN. Bourdain's caption is almost a perfect haiku: Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer. Obama and Bourdain appear to be the only Westerners in the frame, but they blend in effortlessly. Both individually and as a unit in this fleeting moment, they are ambassadors of an America that feels so far gone. How did a country this stable pull a Jekyll-and-Hyde in just two years?

Link to tweet

Bourdain's death by suicide at the age of 61 feels like we’ve lost one of our nation's best representatives. His globetrotting uniform was a pair of jeans, an earth-tone shirt and Clarks desert boots. He perpetually looked the part of that mythic American who is simultaneously hungry to know the world but comfortable in his own skin no matter where he finds himself. Like Obama, Bourdain displayed a rare ability to make those in his presence feel good about themselves. Like Obama, Bourdain saw things and met people and had conversations that the vast majority of the earth's population will never get to experience.

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/bourdain-obama-episode-w521293?utm_source=rsnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=060818_15

[sharp_stick]

1. The idea that an American President

would sit on a tiny plastic stool and eat was astounding. Obama is one hell of an inspiration.

[underpants]

2. The mutual body language and the pauses to listen before responding was telling.

I instituted a 3 second rule a few months ago with my daughter. She is in an instant age and that's not how it works. She's a good girl with her mother's heart. Taking time to consider the world around you is key to safety and consideration.

[Brother Buzz]

3. It was a proud moment for that Vietnamese Restaurant too

Vietnamese Restaurant Where Obama Ate is Literally Preserving His Table



https://nextshark.com/this-vietnamese-restaurant-is-literally-preserving-obamas-seat/

[Docreed2003]

4. A beautiful picture and a fitting tribute...

Bourdain will be sorely missed

[ucrdem]

5. So sad.

Great pic.