Anthony Bourdain & Parts Unknown in the Media

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ha, I can't believe we didn't already have a media thread for this show!

 

Parts Unknown was nominated for an Emmy in the Informational Series or Special category and Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming (Bourdain was also nominated in the host category but for The Taste).

[Athena]

Bourdain has been doing the media rounds lately. He was on Late Night with Stephen Colbert and he's been doing some interviews.

 

Here's a Made Man interview snippet:

 

 

On the last thing he cooked at home:
I made chicken katsu for my daughter for her school lunch. I cook for my daughter’s lunch every day that I’m in New York. I cook a lot at home now that I’m a dad. I like it a lot. I haven’t worked in a restaurant in a long time. So now that I don’t have to do it, I’m enjoying a renaissance of cooking but entirely for fun. I really love it. I’m maniacal about it. When I’m home, I smother my daughter with a choice of breakfast every morning. I try to not repeat myself on the school lunches that I pack her. Dinners are probably a little too elaborate for an eight-year-old and her friend. But I can’t help it.

 

Bourdain is going to publish his first cookbook in ten years slated for 2016 release:

 

 

On his next book:
I am working on a dysfunctional family cookbook called Appetites. Ralph Steadman did the cover, so that’s really kind of all you need to know. It’s a cookbook with recipes that I cook my family. I have a very unusual family. My wife eats nothing but animal protein. My daughter is a weird kid. And I have an unusual group of friends. So it’s a pretty fun collaboration. I’m really happy with the way it’s going. It seemed like the last thing in the world I should ever do, a family cookbook. It’s sort of my version of Ina Garten, you know? If Ina Garten had like a gun, it would be this.

 

I may finally be able to own a Bourdain cookbook that I could possibly make things from. The Les Halles book was nice, but it wasn't exactly homecook friendly.

[NewDigs]

And Ralph Steadman cover art.

That's pretty cool.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

2016 Critics' Choice Award nomination:

BEST UNSTRUCTURED REALITY SHOW

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown

Edited December 15, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[biakbiak]

Tony and Obama have dinner in Hanoi. It will air in the next season of Parts Unknown in September.

Edited May 23, 2016 by biakbiak

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ha, I was just coming here to post the same thing! I can't wait to hear if this was totally planned in advance or just a coincidence that they were in Vietnam at the same time. Based on Bourdain's luck, I'm going to guess it was the latter. Boating excursions aside, he often has the good luck to fall into some good situations while filming. Although as I was typing that sentence, I started remembering all the bad luck he's had while filming too.

[Athena]

Tony was on Fallon playing a game with Mario Batali and Josh Gad. He was more shy which is probably more aligned to fan reports about him:

[Athena]

In addition to the Hanoi episode we'll be getting, Bourdain filmed an episode in Chengdu with his bro Eric Ripert. They even got to cook at a cooking school. Can't wait to see this episode see more on Bourdain's instagram.

[Kromm]

On 5/24/2016 at 10:19 PM, Athena said:

Tony was on Fallon playing a game with Mario Batali and Josh Gad. He was more shy which is probably more aligned to fan reports about him:

I have a friend who knowns him (I've never met him myself though). Anyway, from everything that's always been said about him from that friend, the on-screen persona of him isn't THAT inaccurate. He's not one of these people who's magically a different person when the camera's off. I think what's being seen as shyness is more stuff you actually CAN see in him normally--introversion, and kind of feeling a bit sheepish/silly when immersed in general pop culture stuff like Jimmy Fallon represents. Likely he had to be talked into that appearance, and maybe the one thing that's changed is his tendency to go into snark rants over things, so he's just not got much to say. 

[Athena]

On 2016-05-27 at 3:43 PM, Kromm said:

I have a friend who knowns him (I've never met him myself though). Anyway, from everything that's always been said about him from that friend, the on-screen persona of him isn't THAT inaccurate. He's not one of these people who's magically a different person when the camera's off. I think what's being seen as shyness is more stuff you actually CAN see in him normally--introversion, and kind of feeling a bit sheepish/silly when immersed in general pop culture stuff like Jimmy Fallon represents. Likely he had to be talked into that appearance, and maybe the one thing that's changed is his tendency to go into snark rants over things, so he's just not got much to say. 

I agree with that. I've been following Bourdain for over a decade now and I don't think he is widely different on his show than he is in real life. I don't think being slightly shy is bad thing. He is an introvert. I don't think he's a famewhore type and I like that from most accounts, he's quite a chill kind of guy. The talk show setting is unnatural for him (or for many people). He does seem to snark about certain things, but on TV, he does it often with people he knows well. He doesn't seem obnoxious and the couple of times he's been called out on it, he does seem contrite. He's more of a writer type than a celebrity chef or TV personality in a lot of ways.

[Julia]

 I think people he thinks of as respectable make him nervous.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Parts Unknown was nominated in the following Emmy categories:

Outstanding Writing For A Nonfiction Program
Outstanding Informational Series Or Special
Outstanding Cinematography For A Nonfiction Program
Outstanding Sound Editing For A Nonfiction Program (Single Or Multi-Camera)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Nonfiction Program (Single or Multi-Camera)

[biakbiak]

Apparently there was another divorce announcement that got most of the ink But Tony is single again.

[IndianPaintbrush]

Never thought this marriage would last.  Didn't Tony say that his constant traveling contributed to the breakdown of his first marriage?  Sounds like nothing's changed.

[Athena]

His first marriage broke down for more reasons than travelling. From a couple things in his writing, Tony was unhappy in his marriage in part because he was an addict and they were also very poor. When he began to travel, he began to change his life around. I think Tony travels less than he use to and even in the above article he says that when he is not travel-working, he's basically a stay at home Dad. Not a typical marriage, but their relationship never seemed typical. He would write admiringly about how Ottavia would physically threaten female fans who got too close to him.

[blueray]

He did an ask me anything on Reddit:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/53p6kb/i_am_anthony_bourdain_and_im_really_good_at/?st=itf3x00i&sh=6c0f2762

[peaceknit]

Thanks for that link, @blueray! It was very interesting what he had to say.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Honestly, I'm not all that surprised. He married a woman who was a little over half his age because she got knocked up and then he spent most of his time traveling for work. What's more surprising is that they lasted almost a decade, (although one of the articles said that they've actually been separated for a while, so it's really just that it's become public now so both parties have had to issue statements).

Bourdain on the divorce in People (I'm including the link because I always site sources, but don't bother clicking on the link unless you want to scare the crap out of yourself when the autoplay video comes booming on!):

“My wife and I live, have lived, very separate lives for years,” Bourdain told PEOPLE while discussing his upcoming cookbook, Appetites. “There’s no drama here. We get along really, really well and it’s not a big lifestyle change happening here.”

Bourdain, 60—who shares a nine-year-old daughter, Ariane, with Busia, 38—admits that it can be “really tough” having to travel and be away from his family “about 250 days a year” for his work on projects like CNN’s Parts Unknown. But “it’s what my daughter is used to,” he says.

“You know, this is a girl who knows her parents are weird. We have somehow managed to raise a very healthy, very happy, self-assured little girl who knows she’s loved, who finds her parents entertaining.”

Now their focus is continuing to raise their daughter together: “As a family, I think we’ve done a really good job and we’re doing a really good job and would like to keep it that way,” he added. “As a marriage, clearly it’s not ideal but there’s no injured party here, nobody’s angry, nobody feels like the injured party, nobody feels like a victim. So we’ll proceed like that.”

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I finally picked up a copy of Bourdain's new cookbook, Appetites. It was clearly done before all the info about his divorce because there are photos and text about his wife. There are a lot of recipes and pictures but also some typical rants about what is the right or wrong way to do things (like what is not acceptable on burgers). On the show, he definitely seems like he's mellowed out over the years but in this book I was reminded of why he initially annoyed me in his early years (trying too hard to seem like a rebel, judgey about anyoe who disagrees with him). There are some recipes I might try, but overall I liked Alton Brown's new cookbook better (even though Alton's has fewer recipes).

One very positive thing about the book - he specifically addresses his daughter's participation and notes that her face is obscured in the few photos of her in the book. He explains that he chose his life and he understands that he gives up some of his privacy in exchange for the celebrity that makes his lifestyle and career possible, but that his daughter did not choose that. He says that when she is 18, she can decide for herself but until then he is choosing not to show her face. I agree that celebs get to choose to be famous but their kids do not, and I always feel bad for celeb kids who seem to be exploited for the endless paparazzi photos. It's even worse in this day and age with all the social media so hopefully she can maintain her privacy for a few more years.

[Athena]

The New Yorker has a very candid and in depth profile about Tony up. It includes quotes from his editors, his colleagues, Eric Ripert, and both his ex-wives. The article is the most revealing one I've read about Bourdain yet.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Bourdain was on Fallon to promote the documentary about Jeremiah Tower that he executive produced. He mentioned that he has a website with more in depth info about the places he's visited for the show with recipes, essays, etc:
Explore Parts Unknown

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2017 by ElectricBoogaloo

[blueray]

I just saw that Netflix is taking his show down in May :(. They only had the first 6 seasons. I was hoping that they would add in the later seasons. Instead they are taking it down supposedly May 15th.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Jeremiah Tower, Anthony Bourdain & Lydia Tenaglia discuss "Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent" on Build:

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Emmy nominations:

OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY FOR A NONFICTION PROGRAM

OUTSTANDING INFORMATIONAL SERIES OR SPECIAL

OUTSTANDING SOUND EDITING FOR A NONFICTION PROGRAM (SINGLE OR MULTI-CAMERA)

OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING FOR A NONFICTION PROGRAM (SINGLE OR MULTI-CAMERA)

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A NONFICTION PROGRAM

[NowVoyager]

On 2/10/2017 at 9:22 PM, Athena said:

The New Yorker has a very candid and in depth profile about Tony up. It includes quotes from his editors, his colleagues, Eric Ripert, and both his ex-wives. The article is the most revealing one I've read about Bourdain yet.

Fantastic! Thank you! I just loved this article... it's quite long, but the whole time I was reading, I was rather dreading it coming to an end. Soo good.

[susannot]

New season:  Singapore.  Tony looks old.  But so do I and so do we all.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Bourdain discusses S10 with Eater

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Anthony Bourdain discusses the meathead bro culture in light of the Harvey Weinstein and John Besh scandals 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Anthony Bourdain has been doing a web series in conjunction with The Balvenie called Raw Craft (which you can watch here). He did a 50 minute interview about it on Build.

A brief clip discussing Puerto Rico:

[Snarklepuss]

No thread for his Jeremiah Tower special?  I found it truly inspiring and sad.  I knew he had come and gone from Tavern on the Green a short time ago, and like Bourdain I knew it was going to be short lived because that place has the equivalent of a culinary curse on it.

[ratSenoL]

I accidentally found an insightful vid at Fast Company magazine:

https://www.fastcompany.com/40469932/anthony-bourdain-on-how-and-why-to-say-no-when-you-finally-reach-success

On 11/14/2017 at 0:42 AM, Snarklepuss said:

No thread for his Jeremiah Tower special?  I found it truly inspiring and sad.  I knew he had come and gone from Tavern on the Green a short time ago, and like Bourdain I knew it was going to be short lived because that place has the equivalent of a culinary curse on it.

I enjoyed it as well. I particularly liked how it gave you enough background info to really see how Tower came into himself as a chef and executive chef. I also liked that it didn't flinch from Tower's flaws like some documentaries do. 

Edited to add that I have no idea why previously merged these two disparate things.

Edited November 17, 2017 by ratSenoL

[meep.meep]

I saw the Jeremiah Tower show.  Being west coast, I don't care at all about Tavern on the Green.  The show did explain why Bourdain is so nasty about Alice Waters.  I guess he's on Team Tower.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Anthony Bourdain and Tom Colicchio respond to Mario Batali sexual misconduct allegations

ETA: link to Batali story

Edited December 12, 2017 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Snarklepuss]

On 11/22/2017 at 0:55 PM, meep.meep said:

I saw the Jeremiah Tower show.  Being west coast, I don't care at all about Tavern on the Green.  The show did explain why Bourdain is so nasty about Alice Waters.  I guess he's on Team Tower.

Really?  I care about the French Laundry and other West Coast restaurants despite being on the East Coast.
 

7 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Anthony Bourdain and Tom Colicchio respond to Mario Batali sexual misconduct allegations

ETA: link to Batali story

I am sick over this although not surprised.

[Padma]

19 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Anthony Bourdain and Tom Colicchio respond to Mario Batali sexual misconduct allegations

ETA: link to Batali story

I find it really, really hard to believe that Bourdain only learned about Batali's behavior a few weeks ago.  From the events described--and owned up to--he's an "arrogant drunk who thinks he's God's gift to women" and doesn't hesitate to assault them. Bourdain's been with him many times, in and out of restaurants, on and off tv, with alcohol flowing. I just can't believe any of this is actually news to him.  He should be as tough on Batali as he is on Weinstein., friend or not.

[Snarklepuss]

3 hours ago, Padma said:

I find it really, really hard to believe that Bourdain only learned about Batali's behavior a few weeks ago.  From the events described--and owned up to--he's an "arrogant drunk who thinks he's God's gift to women" and doesn't hesitate to assault them. Bourdain's been with him many times, in and out of restaurants, on and off tv, with alcohol flowing. I just can't believe any of this is actually news to him.  He should be as tough on Batali as he is on Weinstein., friend or not.

ITA, especially based on Bourdain's reaction which seemed like he was trying too hard to avoid being accused of being somehow complicit in having the knowledge of Batali's behavior beforehand.  Not buying it.

[biakbiak]

According to his IG, Asia is directing an ep in Hong Kong with cinematography by Christopher Doyle (Chungking Express, In the Mood for Love).

[wknt3]

RIP

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/08/us/anthony-bourdain-obit/index.html

[captain1]

Such sad news. And poor Eric Ripert!

Edited June 8, 2018 by captain1

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Holy shit. And poor Eric. I can't imagine being the one to find your friend.

His poor daughter. She's only 11 years old.

Edited June 8, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[captain1]

I laughed so hard at the episode (last season, I think it was) when the two of them were together and Tony was saying that people would mistake him for the Ripper and compliment him on the meal they had had at Le Bernardin and Tony would fake a French accent and tell them "All ze feesh is frozen!"

Edited June 8, 2018 by captain1

[Athena]

Terrible news to wake up to. I’m incredibly sad as I have followed Bourdain’s career for over 15 years. I feel for his daughter. 

I was concerned for Tony after reading that New Yorker article I linked above. There were hints in that he was still battling his demons. 

[mtlchick]

I'm shocked and sad.  I feel for his daughter, his colleagues at CNN who were shell shocked, his chef friends.  But more for Asia.  She's at the forefront of the #metoo movement and he was her rock during this time.  Now she has to face going forward without him.  

[AAEBoiler]

The news absolutely sucks. Feel horrible for his daughter, Eric Ripert, his family, and colleagues on his show. He was a unique voice and I will miss hearing/reading it. I have a sudden urge to binge watch all of his different series to experience places that I will likely never see in my lifetime. Sad.

[Sharonana]

This news is just beyond sad. I'm shell shocked. I loved Anthony Bourdain and his irreverent personality. He will be sorely missed!!!

We just never know what someone is going through. You think money and fame will buy happiness. He's been more places and had more adventures than many will ever have in their lifetime. That shit just don't matter.

RIP Anthony

[Yeah No]

My husband woke me up to this news.  We go way back with Tony, having watched him for his entire time on TV, over 15 years.  we were both born in the same hospital as him, in my husband's case in the same year.  I ate regularly at one of the restaurants where he worked at the time he worked there, before I even knew who he was.  We've even seen him in person when he went on the road with Eric.  This news is just decimating for us.  I am sure there is much more to this story that we may find out in time.

Seems as though Eric found him.  So sorry for his daughter.  What happened to his new relationship?  So many questions.

[Prairie Fire]

I'm really sad to hear about this too, not just because he made a lot of damn good TV, but that he's someone who gave a lot of people hope that you can overcome your demons. Not that said hope shouldn't stay alive, but to many, Bourdain was more than just a TV host.

If you've read any of his books, there's some stuff in there that suggests those demons were never far away.

[Enigma X]

This is one of my favorite shows and one of my favorite chefs. It is a shame it took a tragedy for me to ever visit this thread. 

 

After Kate Spade's death, I wrote depression was a jackasshole. It is. I am not shocked by this. I unfortunately know how depression works. This is really sad.

[Wishing Well]

I have been watching him since I was 12 years old.  I’m 25 now.  This man has taught me more about travel, respect, history, a perfect balance between earnestness and sarcasm, and shaped my life in more ways than he could ever know.  

I’m going on vacation today - leaving for a four hour flight.  I have a Kate Spade passport holder, wallet, backpack, and 5 episodes of Parts Unknown loaded.  None of that was influenced by the losses this week.  These two people have shaped and influence us so much, and all I can say is eff the mental health stigma in this country.  Look at what we lose, in return for a little bit of comfort not talking about the hard things.  There is no comparison.

I am going to miss him.  

[SunnyBeBe]

34 minutes ago, Enigma X said:

This is one of my favorite shows and one of my favorite chefs. It is a shame it took a tragedy for me to ever visit this thread. 

 

After Kate Spade's death, I wrote depression was a jackasshole. It is. I am not shocked by this. I unfortunately know how depression works. This is really sad.

I loved his show Parts Unknown.  It really opened up so much about people, no matter where they live. His appreciation, not only for different food, but, different cultures was intoxicating.  I was not that familiar with his personal life though.  I had read some basic things online.  What do you mean that you are not shocked by this?  I'm just struggling to process it.