The Bourdain Legacy

Is no secret that I love Anthony Bourdain. I think he is the representation of enjoying someone's culture without appropriating it. I once did an investigative paper on his work and how his show "Anthony Bourdain's: No Reservations," portrayed culture. I had to watch all episodes of the first season which is the season I focused on for my research. The way he expresses his experience while traveling all around the world trying to find the culture in food, is extremely inspiring to me. Even though he is not alive, his legacy still lives on because of all the great things he did and write. The reason why I am choosing his reviews as an example of reviews I love is because the way he wrote them. He was more than a traveler and a chef, he was also a writer, and he wrote all of his experiences with passion and care. One the reviews from his writing that spoke to me was about his overall trips and how that somehow represented why he travels.

"I wanted adventures. I wanted to go up the Nung river to the heart of darkness in Cambodia. I wanted to ride out into a desert on camelback, sand and dunes in every direction, eat whole roasted lamb with my fingers. I wanted to kick snow off my boots in a Mafiya nightclub in Russia. I wanted to play with automatic weapons in Phnom Penh, recapture the past in a small oyster village in France, step into a seedy neon-lit pulqueria in rural Mexico. I wanted to run roadblocks in the middle of the night, blowing past angry militia with a handful of hurled Marlboro packs, experience fear, excitement, wonder. I wanted kicks ― the kind of melodramatic thrills and chills I’d yearned for since childhood, the kind of adventure I’d found as a little boy in the pages of my Tintin comic books. I wanted to see the world ― and I wanted the world to be just like the movies," wrote Bourdain.

This example is why I admire him and his thought process. He took the most meaningful parts of his travels to create unique pieces of written and watchable art. This is why I think his written reviews are worth sharing and why I think his legacy should live on forever.