In Memoriam of Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain became famous for sharing his culinary experiences but as he embraced the opportunities that fame afforded him, he blessed the world with his true talent as a cultural philosopher. He understood eating and preparing food as one of the few universal characteristics of mankind. While these practices varied in infinite ways around the world, everyone did it and Bourdain made it his mission to share those infinite variations with the rest of the world. His ambition was to show every human being how alike we all are exposing the beauty in the variations in which we all do the same thing. He was a complex man with a dark side but he believed in unity and love above all else.
Bourdain understood how food and drink intertwined inseparably from the greater culture from which they originate. Man’s hunter-gatherer origins instilled 100,000 years of food and drink as the primary means of bonding. For 90% of our existence as a species, gathering for a meal was the only time our entire tribe would spend together as a group, which made it the most important ritual for strengthening social bonds. As we proliferated around the globe, each group separating from their peers carried with them rituals that evolved in new ways. This process, ongoing for thousands for generations has produced a myriad of cultures to explore. He recognized eating and drinking as the most approachable and relatable means of enlightening outsiders about any foreign culture.
Any truly impactful person wears many titles. In Bourdain’s case, he can be called a chef, a mixologist, an explorer, an anthropologist, an author, and an entertainer, among many others. However, the most important title to bestow up him is philosopher because a philosopher changes the way people think; the way they view and interoperate their world. This is the title Bourdain would be most proud of and the one he work hardest to achieve. He was an intelligent man, well read and cultured to an extent that almost only exists in film and literature. He expressed his wisdom with wit and insight at every opportunity. He combined famous poetry, music, and film with personal experiences and local customs to express cultures throughout the world in universally relatable ways. The one constant being that all the cultural attributes that are different are still relatable; despite our differences, we are all the same. He intellectually digested foreign cultures and presented them in relatable ways like no one has ever done. Through a culinary gateway, he took us to places we’ve never been and made it feel familiar. That familiarity with the unknown is the spark of intrigue Bourdain hoped to light in his audience. He wanted to instill an explorer’s mentality in us all, for even if we hardly or never traveled, an explorer’s mentality embraces the new and different.
He never shied away from the dirty, the unfortunate, the scary or the profane as long as it mattered. He showed us that life is hard everywhere, it’s a universal constant for mankind. He knew it was disingenuous to edit real life because that would betray the culture being documented. Things aren’t always great but everyone has to carry on and make it work. We all find our pleasures where we can. People have found remarkably clever and ingenious ways to enjoy life throughout the world. By juxtaposing the hardships with the delights, Bourdain exposed the human condition everywhere he went.
Along with being a unifying agent, food and drink are among the best ways to enjoy life and Bourdain certainly enjoyed life. Like so many people struggling with depression, he sought relief through excessive stimulation. He consumed life is large gulps. Unfortunately, this included a long history of substance abuse. This was never a secret because he knew being open about it made him an example of how to deal with it. His true passion was the preparation and consumption of food. This universal joy was a respite from the demons of substance abuse. Everyone has a favorite food and everyone has foods that they hate but we only have those because we’ve tried different foods. Bourdain stressed that we should never stop trying new things because that is the best way to better know ourselves. The taste if foremost but finding new foreign experiences we enjoy brings other pleasers. There is the pleasure of anticipation, knowing you can only experience something in a distant place and anticipating your return to that place. There is also the joy of sharing your new found pleasure with others because introducing those you care about to something new that they enjoy, thereby creating a new mutual appreciation, is one of the greatest bonding experiences life has to offer.
Anthony Bourdain passionately sought to observe and understand the world. It was important to him that he gave back as much as he received for every location he visited. If he were writing this, he would probably use a famous rock and roll quote like The Beatles’, “in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” The greatest gift he gave the world was his fostering of curiosity and acceptance. These two forces of human nature are, perhaps now more than ever, the most important gifts we can receive. We should never stop exploring and we should never stop embracing the differences that make us all better as a species. Bourdain left us in a time of exceptional disunity and narrow-mindedness throughout the world. He was as aware of this as anyone could be. In this age of social media, his spirit has already bloomed across social channels to an astonishing degree. As he is remembered, let his philosophy proliferate through his admirers. For he left far more love than he took and we should all strive to do the same.
(Written June 9, 2018)
Photo: CNN