Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknownwas a revelation: On the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning show that premiered in 2013,the late celebrity chefexplored cuisines and cultures off the radar of many Americans, tackling political issues and spotlighting the plight of marginalized people.
Bourdain died in an apparent suicide Fridayat age 61 while filming aParts Unknownepisode in France. Here are some of the most noteworthy things from the show and fromBourdain‘s previous show,No Reservations.
- Iran: Political Dissidents Arrested
In the 2014 episode, Bourdain shined a light on Persian cuisine and the life of the Iranian people amidst political oppression.
After the couple was detained, Bourdain wrote inThe Washington Post, “These are good people, much loved and admired all over the world. I am, unfortunately, growing used to seeing bad things happening to good people.”
- Beirut: War Breaks Out
While filming a 2006 episode ofNo Reservationsin the first of his two visits to the Lebanon city, Israeli forces launched an airstrike, dropping rockets on Beirut’s airport. Because of the conflict, Bourdain and his crew were stuck in the city for days.
Bourdain returned to Beirut forParts Unknownin 2015. According toThe New York Times, he loved “The Paris of the Middle East” so much he considered naming his daughter after it.
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“There’s no place else even remotely like it,” he says in theParts Unknownepisode. “Everything great — and all the world’s ills — all in one glorious, messed-up, magical, maddening, magnificent city.”
- Russia: Putin Opponent Assassinated
Bourdain traveled to Russia just before the 2014 Olympic games and Sochi, and the episode pays attention to how the Russian people are dealing with the escalating control of Vladimir Putin.
During the episode, Bourdain eats at a Moscow restaurant with Boris Nemtsov, a Putin critic. Less than a year after the episode aired, Nemtsov was assassinated on a bridge near the Kremlin.
- Hanoi: Noodles with President Obama
After PresidentBarack Obamalifted a decades-old ban on the sale of military equipment to Vietnam in 2016, he dined with Bourdain at Bún chả Hương Liên, a restaurant near the capital city’s old quarter. The sit-down aired in a Parts Unknown episode later that year.
Bourdain later wrotethat the meeting was kept top secret from his network: “CNN didn’t know. The producers, even the camera guys who were to shoot the scene, were not told until the day before.”
Amidst political uncertainty in the aftermath of the rule of strongman Muammar Gaddafi, Bourdain discovers hip-hop, Italian restaurants and optimism.
- West Virginia: Warm Welcome for Liberal in Trump Country
Bourdain traveled to West Virginia in the 2018 season premiere, and discovers local residents struggling with rampant poverty and drug addiction.
Despite their struggles, Bourdain learns his fellow Americans are warm, proud, resourceful and relentlessly optimistic.
“I found a place both heartbreaking, and beautiful. A place that symbolizes and contains everything wrong and everything wonderful and hopeful about America.”
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- Congo: Pride Despite Ravages of Colonial Oppression
In the opening of the 2013 episode, Bourdain narrated: “It is the most relentlessly f——over nation in the world, yet it has long been my dream to see Congo.”
Despite the country’s travails, Bourdain finds the people have faith better times are on the way. He takes viewers to the bullet-ridden Kisangani train station, which hasn’t operated in decades and is overgrown with weeds. Still, the unpaid staff shows up every day to maintain the trains.
- Haiti: Post-Earthquake Hunger and Desperation
In a 2011 episode of No Reservations, Bourdain visited Haiti after an earthquake devastated the impoverished island nation, focusing on the food but delving into the devastation.
“What happens is both predictable and a metaphor for what’s wrong with so much well-intentioned aid effort around the world,” Bourdain said. “Hungry people anywhere behave like hungry people.”
9: Jerusalem: Intractable Conflict Despite Decent People
On his trip to Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, Bourdain examined the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the prism of food.
Bourdain embraced his lack of expertise on the conflict, approaching it with an open mind and using food to find the decency in people on both sides.
source: people.com
