Anthony Bourdain Has No Reservations

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As a writer, I have much affection for authors. As an occasionally snarky person, I like some good dark humor. As a human being, I like to eat. Combine all of these attributes, and you have one of my favorite celebrities: Anthony Bourdain.

I first discovered Anthony Bourdain as the host of The Travel Channel’s No Reservations. This guy is not your average fluffy-bunny celebrity. He drinks like a fish, he smokes like a chimney, and he’ll eat just about anything. (Actually, I recently heard him in a question-and-answer session, and he revealed that he quit smoking after his daughter was born.)

Still, the guy is rude, crass, and totally, totally cool. In fact, I’ve been told that his show No Reservations came about because the folks who gave him his first (very similar) show called A Cook’s Tour on The Food Network found him to be a little too, um, perverse for their audience. The Travel Channel show airs with a parental warning.

Tony Bourdain is first and foremost a chef, and it is entertaining to note that he has a whole lot of criticism for celebrity chefs like Emeril. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em . . . or in his case, keep beating up on them anyway.

In addition to being a semi-big TV star and a very big chef at New York’s Brasserie Les Halles, Bourdain is also a hugely successful author. His book Kitchen Confidential pretty much launched his whole non-cooking career, and it has been followed up by five more non-fiction books, including A Cook’s Tour, The Nasty Bits, No Reservations, and Bone In the Throat. There was even a FOX Television sitcom called Kitchen Confidential that was loosely based on his experiences.

One of the coolest aspects of this ultra-cool guy is the way he travels around the world for his current show. He is almost painfully aware of the cultures he visits, and it is obvious that he strives to be as respectful as humanly possible in a variety of situations. When he’s visiting a village where there is little food, he graciously accepts whatever is offered; and it’s clear that he is truly moved by the gesture.

That’s amazing for someone who is pretty like to tell you to go *censored* yourself just for grins!

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