June 25 ( a day later) but not too late to celebrate life. I loved his shows. Watched some reruns when he went to Georgia, Amman and Vietnam. Very interesting and inspiring.
I had my DVR download all of his shows last year when CNN re-aired them after he passed and I’m watching them from Season 1. Last night I watched Punjab India. He really did have a wonder about people and the world.
I read Kitchen Confidential a couple of months ago (and many years too late). It’s a wonderful book. 7/10 for the actual prose, a straight 10 for the force with which his personality comes through and for the honesty with which he writes about his occasional successes and (at that point) more frequent failures. It’s the book I’ll be giving my sons when they start to think about what they want to do with their lives, the takeaways apply in any context.
I actually watched the episode in Beirut that is mentioned. At one point he asked his local companion if she is not afraid to be seen with a foreigner (himself) like this. She smiled and said no. They did part ways later when she felt they were followed by someone.
Something about the episode in Amman captured my imagination, people, scenery, and well, food.
I read Kitchen Confidential a couple of months ago (and many years too late). It’s a wonderful book. 7/10 for the actual prose, a straight 10 for the force with which his personality comes through and for the honesty with which he writes about his occasional successes and (at that point) more frequent failures. It’s the book I’ll be giving my sons when they start to think about what they want to do with their lives, the takeaways apply in any context.
+1. The honesty of the book made it a great read. He died way before his time. If only someone would have known what he was going through.
Man, I miss him. His insightful voice, connection to the everyman, and gravitas were a rare combination. Despite what he was going through, I hope he still knew how he impacted people, even if it wasn’t enough to pull him through. Apparently he’d been doing better, but – speaking from experience – it can flip in an instant sometimes.
I’m not sure I understand the hero worship with Bourdain. He was an entertaining TV personality, but he was also an heroin and crack addict who continued to drink after he kicked the drugs, he trash talked and feuded with other celebrity chefs, he allegedly paid off a guy not to press charges against his girlfriend for sexually assaulting the guy when he was a minor, his sarcastic patter tended toward the just plain rude and dickish at times, he was somehow simultaneously trying the “everyman” routine while also being pretentious, and he committed suicide.
I get that everyone will have their own take on people, and I found his show entertaining. I don’t hate him. I just don’t understand the kind of sainted vibe he has gotten since he died. There are plenty of people to take advice from or to celebrate. I’m not sure that a dickish recovering addict who killed himself is one of them.
I’m not sure I understand the hero worship with Bourdain. He was an entertaining TV personality, but he was also an heroin and crack addict who continued to drink after he kicked the drugs, he trash talked and feuded with other celebrity chefs, he allegedly paid off a guy not to press charges against his girlfriend for sexually assaulting the guy when he was a minor, his sarcastic patter tended toward the just plain rude and dickish at times, he was somehow simultaneously trying the “everyman” routine while also being pretentious, and he committed suicide.
I get that everyone will have their own take on people, and I found his show entertaining. I don’t hate him. I just don’t understand the kind of sainted vibe he has gotten since he died. There are plenty of people to take advice from or to celebrate. I’m not sure that a dickish recovering addict who killed himself is one of them.
Clueless about the man. But the enhancement of celebrity status through suicide is disturbing.
I’m not sure that a dickish recovering addict who killed himself is one of them.
I find this a telling summary. Neither being an addict, recovering or otherwise, nor committing suicide, have any bearing on a person’s value. If you read kitchen confidential, watched his show and paid attention to the issues he weighed in on (the Olive Garden review!)…if you did that and still found him dickish then fine, we can agree to disagree.
I get that his personality can grate on people but what I appreciate about him and his shows is his storytelling. More often that not it is more than just the food. Him killing himself does not change any of this for me. He showed us that ‘shithole’ countries can be proud of their cuisine and culture, and can offer just as much as culinary giants such as France or Italy.
If you haven’t seen the Beirut episode I recommend it highly.
I get that his personality can grate on people but what I appreciate about him and his shows is his storytelling. More often that not it is more than just the food. Him killing himself does not change any of this for me. He showed us that ‘shithole’ countries can be proud of their cuisine and culture, and can offer just as much as culinary giants such as France or Italy.
If you haven’t seen the Beirut episode I recommend it highly.
Like I said, I found his show entertaining. I’m not suggesting that people should not appreciate his storytelling. I’m just expressing some confusion about how he’s being portrayed, post-suicide, as some sort of inspirational moral figure to emulate, deserving of special days set aside for his remembrance, etc.
I’m not sure that a dickish recovering addict who killed himself is one of them.
I find this a telling summary. Neither being an addict, recovering or otherwise, nor committing suicide, have any bearing on a person’s value. If you read kitchen confidential, watched his show and paid attention to the issues he weighed in on (the Olive Garden review!)…if you did that and still found him dickish then fine, we can agree to disagree.
I disagree that drug use and addiction and suicide have nothing to do with values.
As for his dickishness, I think that’s pretty commonly accepted as part of his character/schtick. It was, in part, deliberate. If you don’t find him to have been that way, at least sometimes, then I think you’d be in the minority.
I’m not sure I understand the hero worship with Bourdain. He was an entertaining TV personality, but he was also an heroin and crack addict who continued to drink after he kicked the drugs, he trash talked and feuded with other celebrity chefs, he allegedly paid off a guy not to press charges against his girlfriend for sexually assaulting the guy when he was a minor, his sarcastic patter tended toward the just plain rude and dickish at times, he was somehow simultaneously trying the “everyman” routine while also being pretentious, and he committed suicide.
I get that everyone will have their own take on people, and I found his show entertaining. I don’t hate him. I just don’t understand the kind of sainted vibe he has gotten since he died. There are plenty of people to take advice from or to celebrate. I’m not sure that a dickish recovering addict who killed himself is one of them.
+1. i don’t get it either.
for me he was an acquired taste. I didn’t fully understood it originally until I go more in to his story. Not arguing about his personality traits and all. But as other said, he provided an insight into people and cultures no one else did. And I am not talking about France and Tuscany. He was much more than a TV personalities, he was an author who wrote some fiction books as well (kind of an intellectual, sorry). He showed that people everywhere are basically good, weather in Beirut, Iran, Armenia, you name it. And it was done by means of food. Look, he is not a saint but he certainly touched many people lives and that what you see. One thing I will agree with you, its the suicide thing. That’s a tough one. There were rumors that his relationship with his last girlfriend was the straw that broke the camels back. No sainthood, lets just reflect on the good he did.
I’m not sure I understand the hero worship with Bourdain. He was an entertaining TV personality, but he was also an heroin and crack addict who continued to drink after he kicked the drugs, he trash talked and feuded with other celebrity chefs, he allegedly paid off a guy not to press charges against his girlfriend for sexually assaulting the guy when he was a minor, his sarcastic patter tended toward the just plain rude and dickish at times, he was somehow simultaneously trying the “everyman” routine while also being pretentious, and he committed suicide.
I get that everyone will have their own take on people, and I found his show entertaining. I don’t hate him. I just don’t understand the kind of sainted vibe he has gotten since he died. There are plenty of people to take advice from or to celebrate. I’m not sure that a dickish recovering addict who killed himself is one of them.
Clueless about the man. But the enhancement of celebrity status through suicide is disturbing.
See Cobain; Kurt.
Loved the band but he had serious issues and killed himself. He should not be worshiped for this.
for me he was an acquired taste. I didn’t fully understood it originally until I go more in to his story. Not arguing about his personality traits and all. But as other said, he provided an insight into people and cultures no one else did. And I am not talking about France and Tuscany. He was much more than a TV personalities, he was an author who wrote some fiction books as well (kind of an intellectual, sorry). He showed that people everywhere are basically good, weather in Beirut, Iran, Armenia, you name it. And it was done by means of food. Look, he is not a saint but he certainly touched many people lives and that what you see. One thing I will agree with you, its the suicide thing. That’s a tough one. There were rumors that his relationship with his last girlfriend was the straw that broke the camels back. No sainthood, lets just reflect on the good he did.
That’s kind of slowguys point though, you want to reflect on the good he did while ignoring the shitty parts.
That’s kind of slowguys point though, you want to reflect on the good he did while ignoring the shitty parts.
No different than fans of any other kind of entertainment. Sports heroes, authors, politicians…
We always focus on the exceptional and not the crappy. I just feel though like there could be a thousand topics like this one about sports personalities in the US versus your Bourdains and Robin Williamses and others. It’s just that sports, and certain sports, are infinitely more protected as status in the US. Drugs effectively ruined the major American cycling progress, but it didn’t seem to hurt the MLB as much.
If we can only make heroes out of people without issues, we’d have no heroes. See Lincoln, Abraham. He’s praised as the President who ended slavery; in reality, he saved the country, but didn’t care whether or not slavery persisted in order to accomplish the goal of saving the country. Anti-racism certainly wasn’t his goal. But he’s still a hero because he was a giant for what he accomplished and how the country leapt forward in ways it couldn’t have otherwise, though it’s correct to be aware of his true intentions amidst his accomplishments.
Bourdain, Cobain, Robin Williams, etc. are people who did a lot of awesome stuff & their art or work or voice will persist for quite some time and be tough to replicate. They were groundbreakers, and we should celebrate their work, while acknowledging their flaws. Ultimately, I don’t think their suicides are things to keep them from being celebrated. Seriously, who is in a good place when they commit suicide, even if it’s awful for those left behind? It’s inherently “selfish,” but it’s not truly selfish because you cannot commit suicide from mental illness (Bourdain & Cobain) while in a right state of mind and in the case of Williams it was suicide because of the impending loss of his faculties & everything he was as a person and artist.
I’m not sure I understand the hero worship with Bourdain. He was an entertaining TV personality, but he was also an heroin and crack addict who continued to drink after he kicked the drugs, he trash talked and feuded with other celebrity chefs, he allegedly paid off a guy not to press charges against his girlfriend for sexually assaulting the guy when he was a minor, his sarcastic patter tended toward the just plain rude and dickish at times, he was somehow simultaneously trying the “everyman” routine while also being pretentious, and he committed suicide.
I get that everyone will have their own take on people, and I found his show entertaining. I don’t hate him. I just don’t understand the kind of sainted vibe he has gotten since he died. There are plenty of people to take advice from or to celebrate. I’m not sure that a dickish recovering addict who killed himself is one of them.
Clueless about the man. But the enhancement of celebrity status through suicide is disturbing.
See Cobain; Kurt.
Loved the band but he had serious issues and killed himself. He should not be worshiped for this.
My issue with Cobain and the idolization is that it seemed to take off after he died.
They were already huge, obviously, but after he died it was like he became a deity to some people.
If we can only make heroes out of people without issues, we’d have no heroes.
Of course. That said, there’s a difference between allowing for flaws in the people we admire, and practically deifying a person who exhibited a laundry list of significant problems, not the least of which was taking his own life. I’m not sure a person who had a significant drug problem, who was involved with potential cover up of sexual assault, and who killed himself is really the type of guy who should be held up as an inspiration.