“Lying in bed and smoking my sixth or seventh cigarette of the morning, I’m wondering what the hell I’m going to do today. Oh yeah, I gotta write this thing. But that’s not work, really, is it? It feels somehow shifty and . . . dishonest, making a buck writing.”

Where do I even begin with this one? I guess it starts in a book shop and I’m looking for a book about pickling for my partner- he’s just moved house and he’s mentioned he wants to be a pickling hobbyist. I’m scanning the shelves and as I usually do I get completely sucked into the books in front of me. There’s this one that’s standing out to me though, I swear it was almost glowing, although in retrospect, maybe I was just drawn in by the handwritten recommendation cards. It’s Kitchen Confidential. Obviously I buy it and within 15 maybe 20 minutes I’m reading it, which is weird because most of my books are purchased and then damned to live a life of collecting dust on a shelf somewhere. I guess I must have been hungry.

“You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”

I know next to nothing about cooking or the chefly arts or the world of fine dining but what I do know is how to read and I know how to recognise a good writer. Once the Kitchen Confidential was in my grip it did not leave it unless I was working, eating or sleeping. I finished it in about two weeks flat, and I didn’t stop there. I watched episodes upon episodes of Parts Unknown, on buses on trains on my work break, it was like I had been taken over, somewhere deep within me a fire had been lit by this man and I needed to know more about the world, about food, about culture and I had found the perfect person to guide me. Yeah okay, I could have watched Rick Stein in India or Gordan Ramsay eat his way around Europe, but there is a reason why there is such a cult of personality around Bourdain. No one else is doing it like he did.

I’m a sucker for a bit of gonzo journalism, that’s probably what kept me around. I write how I speak, I don’t want to come across as pretentious and I just go for it, you probably recognise this by now. Kitchen Confidential does this so well, Bourdain himself may as well have sat across the table from me, having a conversation, telling me all the dirty bits. Read it. I implore you to read it, you won’t regret it.

Anthony Bourdain went unknown for most of his life, it wasn’t until the overnight success of Kitchen Confidential that propelled him into the spotlight, but I don’t think that’s where most people know him from. Sure that was his first step into fame, but for the digital generation perhaps we were first introduced via his work as a TV show presenter. A Cook’s Tour and No Reservations are both great in their own right but it’s Parts Unknown that is the big eye opener.

“If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. The extent to which you can walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food, it’s a plus for everybody. Open your mind, get up off the couch, move.”

The premise of the series is to shine a spotlight on countries, cuisines and people oftentimes from countries that are viewed negatively or demonised by western media. I truly believe that the reason it worked so well was because of Bourdain’s hunger to learn, to be open, compassionate and to explore. If you never risk the bad meal you will never experience the magical one. But it’s not just a cooking show. There is no readily prepared French cottage for him to go and cook ‘authentic’ coq au vin in, no TV set off to the side somewhere. I watched the man kill and cook a chicken on a riverboat in the Congo in complete darkness for heaven’s sake. It’s gritty, it’s compelling and at times it’s dark. More importantly, it’s human. It shows humanity in its glory yet it doesn’t skip out on the depravity, corruption and downright evil that goes on in the world. There is a fine balance that the show manages to achieve. Yes it’s nice to see someone enjoying themselves, drinking wine in sunny Provence, but it’s important that you also see the impact of the actions of the western world have had on people in the Middle East.

Parts Unknown humanised the people of war torn nations, people who are so often just seen as numbers or statistics. Bourdain went in and showcased the lives of normal people who are simply victims of circumstance. Watching episodes where he travels to Iran, Lebanon or Libya, countries which have been described as the axis of evil, terrorist states and more are particularly poignant. And yes, while I am not denying that there is terrorism that emerges in these countries, Bourdain sat at the table and allowed these people to have a voice. To share a meal and to talk, this is what is most important. In uncertain times like these it is crucial that we remember to be open and compassionate, we don’t have to agree to respect each other. These are the messages that Parts Unknown spread.

“Without experimentation, a willingness to ask questions and try new things, we shall surely become static, repetitive, and moribund.”

So there’s a new film coming out, I’m hesitantly optimistic. I like Dominic Sessa, I think the soundtrack will be epic. I’m glad there will be more to consume. Yes I know Roadrunner exists, I’ve watched it… eh… I will not comment further. A24 is distributing the new film, titled Tony, it focuses on the first summer he spent working in Provincetown, which is written about in Kitchen Confidential and I’m expecting that there will be a new wave of hype around Bourdain. His cultural influence will resurface again, along with the co-opting of kitchen aesthetics which has been quietly bubbling under the surface for a while (case in point, The Bear, Service Works, the resurgence of Birkenstock clogs.) I have no doubt that we are truly headed toward a Bourdain summer. Go out there and try everything, be fearless and be kind.

“I want to try everything once… If I have the chance at a full-blown dinner of blowfish gizzard–even if I have not been properly introduced to the chef–and I’m in a strange, Far Eastern city and my plane leaves tomorrow? I’m going for it. You only go around once.”