I stumbled across A Cook's Tour by accident one evening back in 2001 during its original run on the Food Network. And I couldn't look away. The image of a tall gangly chef named Anthony Bourdain, dressed in worn jeans and a leather jacket with a Ramones t-shirt peeking out from underneath was burned onto my retinas. His mannerisms, his swagger, his way of discussing food and cooking in such bawdy, irreverent, but obviously loving terms told me that I'd found something unique. From that point on I watched without fail until it ended its run.
But this only left me wanting more. I had to find out more about Anthony Bourdain. Had he hosted any other shows or written any cookbooks? To this end I entered his name in a search engine of the database of the main branch of my local library system. It came back with a record of a book by him entitled Kitchen Confidential.
Kitchen Confidential is, to put it simply, a great book. Bourdain is an extremely well-read, well-spoken man who can find heart and humor in even the most appalling situations. Even so, he pulls no punches and he sugarcoats nothing. The book is largely autobiographical but also contains a great deal about the history of the culinary movement in America.
In loving, not to mention graphic, detail Bourdain describes such experiences as the first time he ate a raw oyster as a child while in France with his family and his first summer job at a seafood restaurant in Provincetown, Cape Cod. He moves on to his time in culinary school while working part-time at another restaurant and his first full-time cooking job fresh out of school. Also in here are hilarious and harrowing tales from his years of dealing with demanding, psychotic co-workers and owners, shifty wholesalers and other bizarre individuals before finally becoming head chef at Les Halles in New York City.
Only a few months later I picked up a copy of A Cook's Tour, a book-form companion to the show. This volume contains more stories, anecdotes and incidents not featured in the show as Anthony Bourdain samples the local cuisines of Vietnam, Japan, Russia, England, Scotland and other countries. As before, the pages are full not only of Bourdain's musings on cooking but also some of the history and culture of each place he visits. There is great warmth and sincerity in his words as he speaks of all the people he met in his travels , a great respect and appreciation for all the kindness shown to him as a pilgrim in unfamiliar lands. This book is just as funny and insightful as Kitchen Confidential.
In 2005 Anthony Bourdain appeared as the host of another food-oriented travel program, No Reservations, on the Travel Channel. The theme of this show is along the same lines as A Cook's Tour with Bourdain journeying to Iceland, India, countries in Africa, the Pacific Northwest and other places. Not long after the show completed it first season a new book by him, entitled The Nasty Bits, appeared on the shelves. This book is comprised of a selection of articles and essays previously published in various magazines, culinary and otherwise. Many of them were written and submitted while Bourdain was filming No Reservations.
These three offerings are not for the easily offended. Anthony Bourdain's style is uncompromising and occasionally brash. At the same time it is also deeply introspective and self-deprecating. At times one might almost classify it as heartfelt. There is no doubt that he enjoys what he does. After reading each of these I got a clear sense that this is someone who has done a great deal of living, much of it hard, but who has also done an equally great deal of thinking and reflection.
