Anthony Bourdain Dead at 61

[Gadjobrinus]

I don't know where else to put it. Chef, master storyteller, travel TV personality Anthony Bourdain is dead at 61, by suicide.

I can't even conceive of this. In a way a lot of years were formed reading his books, and following his shows. The man had demons but I thought he had kicked them. This is so devastating. His friend Eric Ripert, one of the greatest chefs in the world, discovered him. My heart goes out to Anthony's family and many friends.

I loved him and am going to miss him terribly.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Thoroughly enjoyed his programs and mannerism.

I figured it'd be cancer, drugs/alcohol, or choking that'd take him. Never would have guessed depression and hanging.

 

[Boomer]

Wow. This is terrible news. I really enjoyed all of his shows. He will be missed.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Thoroughly enjoyed his programs and mannerism.

I figured it'd be cancer, drugs/alcohol, or choking that'd take him. Never would have guessed depression and hanging.

Ah, hell, no. I didn't know it was that. That guts me right away, dammit, Anthony! He beat his demons, or so many of us thought, was a serious Gracie JJ fighter, as you're probably alluding to. IT had seemed like he was turning a corner in life, to a much brighter vista. Seems not. I grieve the demons that took him and wish I could hug his family, and that it would be proper, and that it would help.

Dammit. I can't believe this.

 

[passedpawn]

Yea, pretty messed up. He was a very cool dude. I randomly caught episodes of No Reservations, and then Parts Unknown (which was a VERY cool show).

 

[Gadjobrinus]

As a chef, Kitchen Confidential was a spiritual shot in the arm. I fell in love. I think we have most of his books here. My wife loves A Cook's Tour.

The guy wrote. Incredibly talented man.

 

[GoeHaarden]

This is pretty sad. My wife and I thoroughly enjoy his shows and books. Before we travel abroad we usually try to find one of his episodes of the countries we were visiting. A very talented man on many fronts who gave us a taste of the worldly cultures that many of us would probably never experience on our own...

 

[TwistedGray]

I don't remember when/where I was first introduced to him, but it has been many moons ago. One of my first presents from my wife was one of his early books talking a lot of his depression, etc.

That's the thing with depression, it doesn't truly go away. You always carry that, somewhere. You can work around it, master it, beat it into the far recesses of your brain, but it's still there lurking. It doesn't care if you are a good husband, a bad husband, a horrible father, the best father in the world, or a celebrity chef and actor.

****'s real people! Find a way to cope with yourself until your timecard on this dirty rock is stamped.

Enjoy life! That's all I gotta say

 

[Gadjobrinus]

I don't remember when/where I was first introduced to him, but it has been many moons ago. One of my first presents from my wife was one of his early books talking a lot of his depression, etc.

That's the thing with depression, it doesn't truly go away. You always carry that, somewhere. You can work around it, master it, beat it into the far recesses of your brain, but it's still there lurking. It doesn't care if you are a good husband, a bad husband, a horrible father, the best father in the world, or a celebrity chef and actor.

poopy's real people! Find a way to cope with yourself until your timecard on this dirty rock is stamped.

Enjoy life! That's all I gotta say

Good post Twisted, and you're right, depression's a killer that I don't believe ever really goes away, either. An admission that I have major depressive disorder, probably linked to the development of constant, severe, total body pain to about '07. The sense you'll never escape, and the acceptance that pretty deep suffering will be a constant companion the rest of your life. The road to coping isn't linear, in my experience, and I've come close too many times, the overwhelming love that's right there in front of me notwithstanding.

Yours is a perfect post. Life is such a rare thing - we live, we are. So much isn't.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Shocked--and somewhat not shocked--to hear this news today... Shocked, in that he was one of my favorites, he seemed to have turned a corner and was enjoying himself, etc. Not shocked, for the same reasons you guys bring up; some demons never leave. They just fade into the background from time to time.

I've spent some time doing political blogging, and one of my points was that I subscribe to the "Anthony Bourdain view of humanity." It came from one of his seasons of No Reservations (or maybe Parts Unknown) where he focused on places that had been effectively destroyed, undergone some major trauma, or just economically been decimated. He hit Haiti, Cambodia, Kurdistan, Detroit, Cuba, and others. What I took from it is when you start interviewing people there, they all want the same things: a chance for prosperity, safety for their children, and a hope that they can make their own personal future--and that of their families--better than what they have today.

It was the lesson that no matter our nation, our color, our political stripe, we're all at our base humans trying to make our way through the world. That's as true in North Korea and Iran as it is in Berlin or South Beach, Miami. It's a key lesson that most people in all nations would do well to remember.

But today, the lesson is a bit different. We're all human, and we all feel pain, and hopelessness, and the worry that we cannot make life better. That fear, that worry, is part of the human condition, and some people reach a point where they can no longer bear it.

 

[Hopsimus]

Super sad. Love his shows. Whenever I am channel surfing and I notice his show is on I always stop and watch. RIP Anthony.

 

[TwistedGray]

...where he focused on places that had been effectively destroyed, undergone some major trauma, or just economically been decimated. He hit Haiti, Cambodia, Kurdistan, Detroit, Cuba, and others.

His highlight of West Virginia struck a chord! That was/is my life in a nutshell. It's hard! Real hard. Thing is, there are people who love me unconditionally and who I love unconditionally. Depression ... yah, abuse ... yah, pain ... yah, addiction ... yah. Typing this is rough, it's hard.

I think I'm going to call my brother now to tell him I love him!

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

https://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2018/6/8/17441342/bourdain

 

[Cyclman]

Huge loss to us all.

Tony cut to the reality of the human condition..good, bad, indifferent. He wasn’t afraid.

I liked watching him most when he was drunk...crazy awesome, funny guy.

He truly belongs with those “greats” lost too young. I pray he’s partying with Kurt, Elvis, Jim, Janice...cooking, drinking, smoking weed eternally, with hard tunes raging in a beautiful place. RIP.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

God I can't accept he's gone. I grieve so hard he was in that kind of pain. I grieve for his family. He used to chat a bit on egullet.com, and as a member it was pretty awesome to see "Tony" put in some wisdom on various threads. From the first, his words pierced all bs to the truth. And his love for Vietnam - clearly not just for TV - was beautiful. Sitting down to table on the ground, drinking homemade and brain-bustingly powerful hooch made by grandpa. Anthony was the real thing. He gave me the world in a heart, and I'll love him forever for doing it.

I am probably getting this wrong. I remember it was something like this because the exact thing happened to us (only once, thank god) at our restaurant. From Les Halles Cookbook. A customer had complained not that the ribeye was fatty, but that there was fat in the steak:

"Of course there's fat in it. It's FU(K!NG RIBEYE!"

-have lost the book over the years, just re-ordered it.

Two: Absinthe in Paris, and dinner with The Russians.

 

[MaxStout]

Anthony Bourdain ranked high on my list of "famous people I'd like to hang out with." Such an interesting and engaged human being. He wasn't just about the food or travel. He was all about the people who made those things fascinating.

The man had his demons. The demons got the best of him. He will be missed.

RIP

 

[Gadjobrinus]

The love between Anthony and Chef Eric Ripert was palpable and infectious. I think two moments stand out for me. One is located at Ripert's Caribbean restaurant, can't recall which island, for a Chef's get- and cook-together. Anthony and Chef Ripert just sitting down and chatting, and Anthony trying to get Chef Ripert to be honest about whether he would have hired Anthony, had he come to Chef Ripert years earlier, looking for work. Ripert keeps demurring, smiling, insisting that of course he would, with Anthony, in his usual, truthful, incisive way, getting the gold. "C'mon, admit it. You wouldn't have hired me for dishwasher."

"Well, OK, maybe prep cook." Laughs.

I'm paraphrasing. I think I loved the scene so much because it shows two deep friends, enjoying their friendship in such a genuine way. I found it touching.

Then, of course, when the two just pull up somewhere in Provence (I think it was), having grabbed some wine, cheese and I think, charcuterie. Just out on some wild grass, it looks like, in a typical Provençal setting. Again Anthony, probing, starts hammering his friend on Chef Ripert's buddhism. The exchange is meaningful, but light and playful. While they chow on food and wine that can't get better, in its context.

Beyond his friends and his family, to include his young daughter, I wasn't aware he was with the actress Asia Argento. I knew they were friends, from one of the shows, but didn't know they were together. I wish I could send healing to all of them, including Ms. Argento.

This is hard.

 

[Horseflesh]

He used to chat a bit on egullet.com

That is amazing. I had no idea.

I LOVE to cook but stopped watching anything that wasn't easy to stream long, long ago. I know who Bourdain was but only just barely... that last TV chef I watched was Alton Brown. Funny to think that I could have crossed paths with Bourdain on a forum despite not knowing much about him. The Internet really shrinks the world.

 

[Kent88]

Well that sucks.

I don't usually get upset over celebrity deaths (although Robin Williams bugged me) it's not like they care about me. But this dude seemed alright. I really liked that he wasn't all about cooking, his travel stuff was nifty.

I know there have been episodes of his shows where I have thought that he was having a rough day when he recorded the narration.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

That is amazing. I had no idea.

I LOVE to cook but stopped watching anything that wasn't easy to stream long, long ago. I know who Bourdain was but only just barely... that last TV chef I watched was Alton Brown. Funny to think that I could have crossed paths with Bourdain on a forum despite not knowing much about him. The Internet really shrinks the world.

Yeah, it was pretty incredible, to find him there. That's how he was, I think - just a guy with several gifts, sharing his writing. I was just looking back on the site and was reminded he had a great, running exchange going with his friend Michael Ruhlman (don't know if you guys know him - has written several books on the cooking life, the Chef's training and life. He's very enjoyable, I think I have 4 or so of his books). Always sarcastic, always fun. And sorry, it's not "Tony," it's actually "Bourdain" on egullet. The gifted chef Grant Achatz (Chicago; Alinea, I know there are others but can't recall now) also used to post, can't recall what his username was (I was a member for quite awhile, still am, haven't posted in years).

Here's Anthony's stuff.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Well that sucks.

I don't usually get upset over celebrity deaths (although Robin Williams bugged me) it's not like they care about me. But this dude seemed alright. I really liked that he wasn't all about cooking, his travel stuff was nifty.

I know there have been episodes of his shows where I have thought that he was having a rough day when he recorded the narration.

Yeah, agreed, several. But that was part of it, wasn't it? Whether it's the would-be Fellini directing him as if it were a post-modernist art piece, when it was just some simple grub cooked by Anthony in an Italian Villa (granted, an awesome villa, with a pool, etc.), or the Lebanon show where you can actually see the incoming artillery in the distance, the man held nothing back and dove in with all he had. Which I think is how he lived.

Probably my favorite set from Kitchen Confidential:

He was probably strung out, which is no longer funny but he writes it wryly. Needs a job badly and heads to an interview with a Scottish restaurateur, a sort of beef-baron of the industry. He's doing great in the interview and it gets to a point where the baron, in thickest brogue, asks Anthony: "So. What do you know about meat?"

Anthony pauses, and with truth to power, pops out "not a fu(king thing."

Needless to say he didn't get the job. He's a block or two away when his brain catches up with his feet, and he realizes the guy wasn't asking what he knew about him, but what he knows about meat, lol. "HE SAID WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MEAT?!!!"

-probably a fair question for a chef interview.

Forgive me, guys, if this is, whatever. I never met him but between Egullet, his shows and his books, I came to really love him and I know it's probably even selfish to say, when he's got family and other loved ones truly suffering tonight but this hurts really bad. It helps to recount what he brought to life, and that's how I would like to remember him, fighting. Even in a second act, as a serious jiu-jitsu student, mauling it out nearing 60 with a younger lion of a teacher.

I wish I could believe in some way to send him, with the grieving others, that I hope you've found peace, Brother. Maybe he hears, and maybe he has, don't know. But I humbly wish it for him beyond anything else.

 

[Kharnynb]

I liked his books and his shows, though the books were better in my opinion.

Sucks that he's dead, He still hadn't made a good finland episode(the layover one, with sammy jaffa as cohost was one of the few misses in my opinion)

 

[Gadjobrinus]

I liked his books and his shows, though the books were better in my opinion.

Sucks that he's dead, He still hadn't made a good finland episode(the layover one, with sammy jaffa as cohost was one of the few misses in my opinion)

I didn't see that one - unless he's at table, and pissed about vegetarians again (an evolution in thought, like Emeril; after he slaughtered for the first and maybe only time. He better understood, as I understand). Did you ever see the Noma episode, Copenhagen? (Parts unknown)

 

[Kharnynb]

noma one was nice, one of the more foody ones.

I liked his "difficult country" episodes best, congo, cambodia, myanmar

 

[Gadjobrinus]

noma one was nice, one of the more foody ones.

I liked his "difficult country" episodes best, congo, cambodia, myanmar

I'm hopelessly French, so go nuts whenever he went back (usually with Chef Ripert - maybe only 2 or so? Can't remember) to the Mother Country but yes, absolutely, agreed. Deep. In.

 

[venatorscribe]

A very loose bit of modern verse that I wrote approx twelve months ago as I was watching him on TV.

Anthony Bourdain

His body abuse evident
Old and tortured by wrinkles
Possibly on his fourth liver and second stomach
a culvert for his lower bowel
grande sacs under eyes
tats overlaying sculptured biceps
Cooler than a hipster
Meandering a third world route
through ‘parts unknown’. An unwrapped CNN star
earning respect, not imagined or assumed.
Abandoning finesse, muffled chugging, gallons of beer
His friction modifier for informed discussion,
descent, rebellions, past and present.
A digestible emulsion of political and food wittiness
The programme moves on. He’s burbling now,
under full sails looking sheepishly slammed,
lurching to a food truck - more unknown parts,
cheese & chilli over a suspicious sticky protein
sauce dribbles down and over his chin
his culvert rumbles with the new marinate
This man needs another drink
105 octane grappa ignites his turbo brain
further insightful and semi blathering comments
serenading the closing credits
leaving me hungry for more.

 

[DocDriza]

Thoroughly enjoyed watching that guy.

"I want the smelliest cheese you have. And I mean that in the best way..." - Anthony Bourdain

 

[arturo7]

https://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2018/6/8/17441342/bourdain

Thanks for linking that article.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

https://www.popehat.com/2018/06/10/randazza-trying-to-make-sense-of-bourdain/

 

[passedpawn]

Was just reading a little Shakespeare (haha, I don't normally do that, but Hamlet came up in my life). This soliloquy regarding suicide seemed relevant. Hamlet here is concerned with what happens after he "takes arms against" his troubles and "makes his quietus" with that bare bodkin (knife). He's concerned with "what dreams may come" afterwards; IOW, hell. (in Hamlet, he's just depressed due to his dad's death)

Anyway, suicide seems to be in the news and I thought it was relevant. Regardless of your appreciation for 500-yr old prose, it's interesting that the basic strife and introversion of humans seems the same. Use or discard as necessary.

From Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1:

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ‘tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.—Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember’d.

 

[venatorscribe]

There is nothing wrong with a bit of Hamlet. Of all Shakespeare's work it seems like it is quotes and references from Hamlet that pops up the most in movie and tv scripts.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Was just reading a little Shakespeare (haha, I don't normally do that, but Hamlet came up in my life). This soliloquy regarding suicide seemed relevant. Hamlet here is concerned with what happens after he "takes arms against" his troubles and "makes his quietus" with that bare bodkin (knife). He's concerned with "what dreams may come" afterwards; IOW, hell. (in Hamlet, he's just depressed due to his dad's death)

Anyway, suicide seems to be in the news and I thought it was relevant. Regardless of your appreciation for 500-yr old prose, it's interesting that the basic strife and introversion of humans seems the same. Use or discard as necessary.

From Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1:

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ‘tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.—Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember’d.

I played Hamlet. It's so easy when playing him to hear the voices of a million actors before you - and this is important - it's also critical to hear and speak the lines as if we've never heard them before. It's important, I think, this is a monologue (not a soliloquy, not even an aside to the audience - except everything aside - we're all sharing, actor and audience, 100% of the minutes onstage). As he later says, ""I am but mad north by north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw."

He knows what's up. At the same time he's cracked by grief. Assuming his father's spirit isn't evil, and something as benign as a broken heart can bring the broken mind that drives at least two to their death - Hamlet, and Ophelia, I wonder then what darkness took such a life-affirming force as Anthony to his end. That's how I saw him, anyway. He lived. He put his childhood behind him and found he way to share with the planet all his planet travels yielded. And as hard-edged as he purported himself to be, as punk and jaded and life-at-the-edge-of-a-cigarette-forged as he made himself out to be, what Anthony was for me, was all in, life-affirming. Which is why I and a million others are so perplexed by this loss. I didn't know he suffered in pain and darkness, but I wish we had. I don't know that any of his family, to include Ms. Argento, could have saved Anthony from his desire for extinction; but it gave a running shot, and who knows who would have yielded?

I've laid in to several whites tonight - Sauvignon, chardonnay (x 2), and Viognier. So I hope I'm not dishonoring this memory by posting now. I still cannot take in, he's gone. If you hear this, we love you, brother Anthony. Thanks for bringing the spiritual juice to what it is to work in the true kitchen.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I've laid in to several whites tonight - Sauvignon, chardonnay (x 2), and Viognier. So I hope I'm not dishonoring this memory by posting now. I still cannot take in, he's gone. If you hear this, we love you, brother Anthony. Thanks for bringing the spiritual juice to what it is to work in the true kitchen.

No dishonor here, friend...

It's one of the things that since it happened, I feel like I have something to say. Something akin to my "Anthony Bourdain view of humanity" I mention above. That in a world of increasing nationalism, polarism, and anger, he brought people together and showed that at the end of the day, we all share basic humanity. We all gather around a table with our loved ones and reflect on the day we've had and those upcoming. He showed through his show just how universal our humanity is, and it transcends race, gender, country, creed, and everything else.

But I can't. I can't write it. The words just won't come. I sat down, clear-headed and ready, and nothing flowed from my fingertips.

Perhaps it's one of those things that requires the great old muse, Ninkasi, to bring forth.

 

[passedpawn]

There is nothing wrong with a bit of Hamlet. Of all Shakespeare's work it seems like it is quotes and references from Hamlet that pops up the most in movie and tv scripts.

Of course they do, because all the worlds a stage, and the men and women merely players Or something like that.

Coincidentally, I'm halfway through My Life in France right now, the story of Julia Child's time in France, where she learned how to cook. If you think Bourdain was the biggest fan of French cooking, well you don't know Julia.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Of course they do, because all the worlds a stage, and the men and women merely players Or something like that.

Coincidentally, I'm halfway through My Life in France right now, the story of Julia Child's time in France, where she learned how to cook. If you think Bourdain was the biggest fan of French cooking, well you don't know Julia.

WAY off-topic, but you should check out a book called A Year In Provence if you haven't already.

 

[passedpawn]

WAY off-topic, but you should check out a book called A Year In Provence if you haven't already.

See you in the Reading thread!

 

[Gadjobrinus]

WAY off-topic, but you should check out a book called A Year In Provence if you haven't already.

Just. don't. watch. the. Series. Just my opinion, or unless you love whining as art form.

Books (I've read them in French, so don't know what the translations are like) and films by Marcel Pagnol, autobiographical material from his youth - Father's Glory/Gloire de mon Père; Mother's Castle/Le Château de Ma Mère. And of course the bookend films Jean de Florette/Manon des Sources.

For a beautiful description of what the belle epoque Paris Les Halles marketplace (Anthony's brasserie took its name from this place) once was (and will never be again), The Belly of Paris/Ventre de Paris, by Emile Zola. George Orwell's Down and Out in London and Paris is also amusing.

If you don't know Zola, I heartily recommend him. If for no other reason than the fact he stood up for the horribly maligned Officer Dreyfus, when few others would. The wolf of anti-semitism is too close to France's historical door, too often, and I find Zola a shaft of pure light calling on all French citizens to embrace the very ideals that launched them into modernity and nation-statehood. The Dreyfus Affair is a terrible blot on France's name, and Zola is to be honored eternally, in my opinion, for his fight.

Edit: Now that I think of it, it's almost certain I came to Zola's Belly of Paris and Orwell's Down and Out, through Anthony. Stone in a pond, and all the ripples.


One Slash, lightning cleaves the dim
Blue fleck'ed pulse the wavelets
Cranes lull among the reeds

 

[venatorscribe]

WAY off-topic, but you should check out a book called A Year In Provence if you haven't already.

Agree. It is a very pleasant read. Having lived briefly in a smallish french village once, it makes me want to go back again just to chill out

 

[venatorscribe]

WAY off-topic, but you should check out a book called A Year In Provence if you haven't already.

I have just re-watched Bourdain's program on Paris. If you enjoy France you'll enjoy his insights re the french way of life. It is Episode 2 in the Layover series. I found it in Netflix - it is probably also up on uTube .