RIP Anthony Bourdain

[Tiger Refuge 6,662]

Heard about this on the ride in this morning. I have always really enjoyed his shows. Sorry, on mobile and don’t know how to partially post an article...feel free to edit.

https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/06/08/us/anthony-bourdain-obit/index.html

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

52 minutes ago, Tiger Refuge said:

Heard about this on the ride in this morning. I have always really enjoyed his shows. Sorry, on mobile and don’t know how to partially post an article...feel free to edit.

https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/06/08/us/anthony-bourdain-obit/index.html

Alas

[McLoofus 35,182]

Been thinking about this one a lot this morning. I've read his books and watched his shows and sought out a few restaurants, including taking a bus to a very out of the way neighborhood in Rome for some porchetta, on his recommendation. I've followed his cooking advice. I take his taste in music seriously. I've actually wondered what kind of feedback he'd give me if I cooked a meal under his watch and then served it to him. (Along with my family and others. I'm not *that* weird about it.) He helped launch a LOT of careers. He really occupied a singular place in the world and he has occupied more of my headspace than almost any other artist or celebrity of the last 20 years. 

But I kind of lost interest in him as he seemingly went from subversive punk (redundant?) chef/author/epicurean/traveler to ubiquitous pop culture fixture, and as the tattooed, angry chef became a bit of a cliche. In my mind, his shows went from ballsy explorations into downtrodden, surprising, dirty and sometimes dangerous places and cultures- explorations that I dreamt of following and recreating- to him just having slightly masturbatory dinners and conversations with all the famous chefs and other celebrities he knows. I just lost interest. I wasn't mad at him, because I thought he- like so many bands that enjoy decades-long success- just started enjoying all his success. Who wouldn't? We all soften. 

Except he obviously wasn't enjoying it. And that makes me really sad. He wasn't perfect and could be downright douchey, but damn, man. I think he actually mattered. From what I'm seeing on social media, he was a bit of a hero to recovering addicts and functioning depressives. And there are probably a lot of third world economies that have benefited from him showing whitebread pu**ies like me that it's okay to eat an unrecognizable meat and noodle dish off a dirty table in rural Thailand with chickens pecking in the dirt at your feet and where neither you nor the people who are serving you- whom you realize a little too late may be running a restaurant or may just be a family who happened to be sitting outside their home eating when you, lost on a bicycle, ride by- understand a single word of what the other is saying. (True story, and I'm really not sure I would have had I not romanticized his adventures and essentially tried to emulate him.) The guy really inspired a lot of people to think about things differently and more openly. He made the world more possible. And delicious. 

Sorry. I started off the morning thinking, "Eh, he was always one of those tortured artist types, no surprise here." But this one's really hitting me the more I think about it and I guess I felt compelled to feebly memorialize him here for some reason. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

PS- If you've ever worked in a restaurant and haven't read Kitchen Confidential, fix that post haste. Not that you need to have worked in a restaurant to enjoy it. It just spoke to me on a level like very few books ever have. 

[Barnacle 9,064]

13 hours ago, McLoofus said:

there are probably a lot of third world economies that have benefited from him showing whitebread pu**ies like me that it's okay to eat an unrecognizable meat and noodle dish off a dirty table in rural Thailand with chickens pecking in the dirt at your feet and where neither you nor the people who are serving you- whom you realize a little too late may be running a restaurant or may just be a family who happened to be sitting outside their home eating when you, lost on a bicycle, ride by- understand a single word of what the other is saying. (True story, and I'm really not sure I would have had I not romanticized his adventures and essentially tried to emulate him.) The guy really inspired a lot of people to think about things differently and more openly. He made the world more possible. And delicious. 

Sorry. I started off the morning thinking, "Eh, he was always one of those tortured artist types, no surprise here." But this one's really hitting me the more I think about it and I guess I felt compelled to feebly memorialize him here for some reason. 

I think he would really enjoy reading this. ?

[Grumps 3,704]

On 6/8/2018 at 8:44 AM, McLoofus said:

Been thinking about this one a lot this morning. I've read his books and watched his shows and sought out a few restaurants, including taking a bus to a very out of the way neighborhood in Rome for some porchetta, on his recommendation. I've followed his cooking advice. I take his taste in music seriously. I've actually wondered what kind of feedback he'd give me if I cooked a meal under his watch and then served it to him. (Along with my family and others. I'm not *that* weird about it.) He helped launch a LOT of careers. He really occupied a singular place in the world and he has occupied more of my headspace than almost any other artist or celebrity of the last 20 years. 

But I kind of lost interest in him as he seemingly went from subversive punk (redundant?) chef/author/epicurean/traveler to ubiquitous pop culture fixture, and as the tattooed, angry chef became a bit of a cliche. In my mind, his shows went from ballsy explorations into downtrodden, surprising, dirty and sometimes dangerous places and cultures- explorations that I dreamt of following and recreating- to him just having slightly masturbatory dinners and conversations with all the famous chefs and other celebrities he knows. I just lost interest. I wasn't mad at him, because I thought he- like so many bands that enjoy decades-long success- just started enjoying all his success. Who wouldn't? We all soften. 

Except he obviously wasn't enjoying it. And that makes me really sad. He wasn't perfect and could be downright douchey, but damn, man. I think he actually mattered. From what I'm seeing on social media, he was a bit of a hero to recovering addicts and functioning depressives. And there are probably a lot of third world economies that have benefited from him showing whitebread pu**ies like me that it's okay to eat an unrecognizable meat and noodle dish off a dirty table in rural Thailand with chickens pecking in the dirt at your feet and where neither you nor the people who are serving you- whom you realize a little too late may be running a restaurant or may just be a family who happened to be sitting outside their home eating when you, lost on a bicycle, ride by- understand a single word of what the other is saying. (True story, and I'm really not sure I would have had I not romanticized his adventures and essentially tried to emulate him.) The guy really inspired a lot of people to think about things differently and more openly. He made the world more possible. And delicious. 

Sorry. I started off the morning thinking, "Eh, he was always one of those tortured artist types, no surprise here." But this one's really hitting me the more I think about it and I guess I felt compelled to feebly memorialize him here for some reason. 

Great post! Thanks!

His death hit me harder than other celebrity deaths also, even though I didn't watch his show a lot. I just felt like he was SINCERELY trying to understand people and used food as a common thread to get to know people. He seemed like he was looking for something. I assume he didn't find it.

[McLoofus 35,182]

39 minutes ago, Grumps said:

Great post! Thanks!

His death hit me harder than other celebrity deaths also, even though I didn't watch his show a lot. I just felt like he was SINCERELY trying to understand people and used food as a common thread to get to know people. He seemed like he was looking for something. I assume he didn't find it.

Perfectly said, Grumps.