I awakened, as many did, to the news that Anthony Bourdain, chef and restaurateur, food critic and television host of “Parts Unknown,” had committed suicide. On the heels of Kate Spade’s death, this seemed like a double whammy, although it neither deepens the loss of him nor lessens hers. But this somehow seemed more sad to me personally, because I relate much more to the world of food than fashion. That a chef who had taught us all so much about cuisine and a sense of place, not to mention the politics and the people who live there, would take his own life, conjured up an unusual sense of sorrow.
Like many others, I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking: He seemed happy? He seemed fine? What more could he have wanted? But as we all know, suicide is complex and encompasses so much more: People who seem happy aren’t, and the people who seem most unhappy, still are not often suicidal. Still, there’s a reason Bourdain’s death will rock many. He was a part of the original group of celebrity chefs, who finally demonstrated for the rest of us on national television why our obsession with food has so much more to do than with just food.
Bourdain: the first wave of celebrity chefs
Bourdain wasn’t just a celebrity; he was a specific kind. Now everyone has a show on the Food Network boasting specific kinds of cuisine or competitions, but Bourdain was a part of the first wave of chefs who became celebrities because they embodied a specific purpose. A couple decades ago, with the birth of the Food Network, television executives, camera crews, and chefs who were both knowledgeable and camera-savvy, figured out a way to show the public food is so much more to people than just food. Chefs like Ming Tsai, Bobby Flay, Ina Garten, and Anthony Bourdain showed us food matters so much because it’s about people, place, memory, family, friends, companionship, and adventure.
A college dropout who first began to love food after eating oysters in France — and who wouldn’t? — Bourdain went on to chef school and then to run various kitchens in New York City, most notably, Brasserie Les Halles. Bourdain was the host of several long-running television shows, including “No Reservations” before “Parts Unknown” — he was occasionally on “Top Chef” as well. His many cookbooks details his life as a chef and as a food traveler. And like his television shows, his books connected place, food, family, and memory. To him they were one long adventure with as many turns as there were possibilities for meals.
Bourdain showed us why food is so meaningful
Bourdain and his shows “No Reservations” and “Parts Unknown” made the world’s most influential chef recognizable. To foodies like me and my friends, his tanned skin, long thin face, and gritty, deep voice were as familiar as the prim, proper Hamptons-loving Ina Garten’s. Though none of us knew him, Bourdain seemed familiar. Though none of us traveled with him, his shows made me want to see places I’d probably never get to see and taste food I’d never get to taste. But that was okay — Bourdain made it seem real, delicious, authentic, and meaningful. We could live our love of food and place through him — he asked the questions we always wanted to ask and so we felt camaraderie.
As an American who loved France, Bourdain capitalized on our nation’s deep and dichotomous relationship with food more than most chefs have. America is a melting pot and that doesn’t just refer to race, ethnicity, religion, or politics: We brought our cuisine with us, and we needed someone to show us the origins again, lest we forget and lest it mean nothing. With trips around the world to everywhere from Britain to Armenia, interviewing everyone from street chefs to President Barack Obama, Bourdain showed us these origins. He showed us how food brings together people, place, and politics whether we wanted it all to coincide or not.
Bourdain regularly took to his Twitter to talk politics. With food, he believed, we could come together and enjoy these things that might often have torn us apart even as we debated that about which we disagreed. With his cookbooks and television shows, Bourdain showed us food does not just nourish the body, it feeds a sense of purpose, accomplishment, well-being, and companionship.
“Context and memory play powerful roles in all the truly great meals in one’s life,” Bourdain once said. Indeed, may we honor the role these things play in our lives and the people like him who helped us see it and are gone from us far too soon.
Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in D.C. who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She was the 2010 recipient of the American Spectator’s Young Journalist Award.
