One Last Bite: A Recipe for Remembering on Bourdain Day
Savoring the Flavors of a Life Well-Traveled
If Anthony Bourdain were to write a remembrance of himself, he might have said something like this:
“I had many titles in my time on this rock — chef, author, traveler, gourmand, provocateur, but in the end, I suppose, the one I liked the most was ‘storyteller’. I was this vagabond from Jersey with a dark past, a hell-bent predilection for the deliciously dangerous, and a passport with enough stamps to make even the most seasoned traveler blush. And you, my lovely audience, you came along for the ride.
In between bites of banh mi in Vietnam, sipping soju in Seoul, or chowing down on a cheeseburger in Detroit, I tried to shed some light on this confusing, complicated, beautiful world we live in. All those distant lands and cultures, not just in terms of kilometers, but in understanding, in heartache, joy, and shared meals. Together, we wandered into the fray, determined to get a little lost.
If you remember one thing about me, I hope it’s not the titles, the shows, or even the meals. Instead, remember the idea — the simple belief that our world gets a little bit smaller, a little bit kinder, every time we sit down to share a meal with someone different from us. That belief led me across borders and…
