It has taken me some time to understand and express the impact Bourdain has had on me. He seemed, even when his responses bordered on irreverence, that he enjoyed life to the fullest. To paraphrase his close friend Anderson Cooper of CNN, Bourdain was always up for an adventure, and more importantly, sharing it with his legion of loyal readers and viewers. So why did he choose to end it all?
Writing in his book Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook (2010), Bourdain implored people to open their minds and travel the world. "It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn. Maybe that's enlightenment enough — to know that there is no final resting place of the mind, no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom, at least for me, means realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go." We watched him as he traveled here and there while eating pretty much anything placed in front of him, whether it be an uncooked warthog anus in Namibia, or the most carefully prepared haute cuisine in New York or Paris. They read and listened as he boisterously opined about what he did not like, yet he was passionate about that which made him happy – the places, foods, and people he deeply cared for – as he continued on his quest to parts unknown and food untasted. "He was an explorer who removed degrees of separation from the world's sociological arithmetic," wrote Drew Magary in GQ last December. "A man who was always, in his words, hungry for more."
It has been a year since Anthony Bourdain left us. I still grow melancholy when I think there will be no more culinary adventures, no more of Bourdain’s brash claims mixed with considered opinions. Since his death I have gone back and watched many of my favorite episodes of his shows, and I have reread many of his books. I can’t help but smile as I watch Bourdain wander here and there, tasting and relishing this and that. Yet the melancholy always returns.
Many who knew Bourdain personally, and more who never met the man, have agreed since his death that he meant a great deal to a great many people and that what he gave to all of us cannot end with his passing. A few weeks ago, two renowned chefs and close friends - José Andrés and Eric Ripert, who was with Bourdain in France when he took his life – announced that today would be declared "Anthony Bourdain Day" during which friends and fans alike can remember and celebrate what he meant to them. They were also encouraged to share their memories under the hashtag #BourdainDay. So permit me to share again what I posted in the wake of Bourdain’s passing:
https://lookingtowardportugal.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-dog-on-short-chain-belated-tribute-to_6.html
Talking and writing about Bourdain helps keep his memory alive and vital. Still, there is that dull, empty spot down deep that just won’t go away. Perhaps Paula Froelich, a journalist and author who once dated Bourdain , said it best. "I just think it's lonelier without him in the world." It really is.
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