Anthony Bourdain has inspired countless millions to explore their world, the various cultures and cuisine that was uniquely done in only a way he could do it in.
SEATTLE, June 8,2018 — Like many of you, I find inspiration in life from many experiences and from those who we esteem. Anthony Bourdain, a man I never met but plan to hang out with in the next life, touched countless millions. It wasn’t his cooking, even though he was an accomplished chef, nor was it his tell-all book, Kitchen Confidential – which sent him into stardom – it was his relatability.
His ability to tell a story like few others have been able to muster. His way with words incited visions within the minds of those who read his writings or watched his award-winning TV shows.
It would be Anthony’s break-out article in the New Yorker that was published in 1999 that would eventually land him the book deal for Kitchen Confidential. The tell-all book that would expose all of the “dirty secrets” of what happens in the majority of restaurant kitchens.
It wasn’t simply what he said in this book but the colorful way he’d say it in his book, that catapulted it to an instant best-seller.
His move to CNN, several years ago, would open up his masterful ability to showcase various cultures around the world, to a much wider audience.
What Anthony possessed was something that’s so sorely lacking in today’s fast-paced, Instagram-filtered lives we live and that was the brutal honesty he conveyed.
Whether he was breaking bread with families in the country of Iran or eating something few of us could fathom ever eating in “Far Away Places”, the sincerity and honesty of his message would pierce right through the most callused hearts.
His influence in my own personal life was the catalyst of my trip to Croatia in 2015, after viewing his “No Reservations” episode from that country. His smile, demeanor and yes, crassness at appropriate times and the ability to say the things few would be brave enough to say created a fissure in the culinary world. At the same time, he captured the hearts and minds of all those who were his fans.
