Why Cooks Loved Anthony Bourdain

[elleng]

' I was introduced to Anthony Bourdain in 1999, at dinner at the home of the author Paula Wolfert. Not him, exactly, but his writing. It was late in the meal, the table covered with empty plates and wine bottles, when Ms. Wolfert suddenly jumped up and ran out of the room. She returned with the current copy of The New Yorker and started reading out loud from his now-legendary story “Don’t Eat Before Reading This,” in which he detailed the realities of a professional kitchen with gallows humor and scientific precision. It was electric. No one on the inside had ever written about professional kitchens in such an honest and open way.

That article and the man who wrote it changed everything — for readers and other writers, but even more so for his fellow cooks. The outpouring of grief and confusion from cooks around the world, overflowing social media and spilling into texts and emails and calls, speaks to how deeply he touched our lives. No matter how famous and seemingly unapproachable he became in the world, he was always one of us. He was a cook at heart.

In his writing, he ripped open the glossy facade of the celebrity chef, which in the early 2000s was still new and shiny, exposing the often unsavory realities of the trade that lurked beneath. Inspired by Hunter S. Thompson and gonzo journalism, Mr. Bourdain’s writing was direct, often brutal and always from an insider’s perspective. If it was shocking to people who knew restaurants only as diners, it was honest and revealing and brave to those of us who knew the other side.

The legacy he left behind is vast. The compassionate skepticism with which Mr. Bourdain viewed the world has now become standard in food writing. As his celebrity grew, he created television shows that invited viewers to explore the world through his eyes, with the same openness and curiosity as he did. But more than anything, he left his mark on cooks.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/08/opinion/anthony-bourdain-death-loved-cooks.html?

[utopian]

1. I was a line cook, sous chef, waiter and bartender

For much of my adult life. Bourdain's writing and tv shows spoke to that experience in ways no one else has. In some ways I feel like I've lost a friend, but he was definitely a kindred spirit. RIP brother.

[Major Nikon]

2. He spoke to everyone in ways that influences us in areas well outside the realm of cooking

“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”