Anthony Bourdain
TV's galloping gourmet serves up his famously forked tongue to Time Out
How many countries have you’ve
clocked up on your passport
doing No Reservations? I know
it’s over 200,000 air miles. We’re up
around 40 shows in the can, so I’m
guessing around 32 countries.
So what’s the time split between the
road and the restaurant? I’m
never in the restaurant (Bourdain
owns Brasserie Les Halles in New
York). I long ago ceased having any
day-to-day operational responsibility
there. It was just impossible. I
travel between two and three weeks
out of each month for ten months
of the year, so it’s an impossibility
to be a good chef. I’m a figurehead, a
spiritual leader at best.
No panic phone calls for advice? No panic calls, because I’m the last
person in the world that can help
them. I’m probably in Singapore
or Cuzco eating eyeballs, so no one
expects me to fix a drain.
Do you ever worry there might be
nowhere left to go? No, no way. It’s
a big, big, big world with lots of really
amazing places to go. I can easily
spend ten years just shooting in China,
it’s such a gigantic country with
such a diverse culture. Or just eating
around Italy, travelling around Italy,
for that matter, every little village is
an entirely different food culture. So
no, that’s really not a concern at all.
There are also places I was only able
to get a bite of or couldn’t do full
justice to in one episode of television
that I’d love to go back to.
Good point. Can you really do
justice to a culinary epicentre in
42 minutes of TV? We deliberately
avoid doing anything like an
authoritative or comprehensive or
even representative look at a city,
much less a country. No Reservations is totally first person. The best I can
hope for is that viewers get a sense
of what a place smells or tastes like
or might be like. But it’s very subjective,
and I bring all of my prejudices
and preconceptions along with me
We like that you include the bung
moments. That’s travelling, no? Some shows are less interesting than
others. I’m not going to lie. I won’t
say Uzbekistan is a wonderland because
frankly, it kind of sucked. I’m
not going to pretend the traditional
food of Iceland is something everyone
should try – it’s disgusting.
Travel isn’t about scenery is it,
it’s about people. How do you
fi nd your on-air talent? It’s a matter
of putting yourself in a position
where good things happen to you.
We try really hard to run away from
any Department of Tourism or hotels
that want us to do a little feature
on them. I don’t ever want to be like
those other travel or food hosts. The
audiences are pretty sophisticated
now about things so when they see
somebody standing there in front
of the buffet saying that this food is
great when clearly it’s shit, it undercuts
your credibility.
What advice would you give to
more adventurous travellers? Never eat in the hotel. Never ask your
concierge where to eat, ask your taxi
driver. If you see someone else from
your own country, don’t eat there –
it’s clearly no good. Take a chance
– eat local. Eat whatever is offered.
Drink whatever is offered – that’s the
way to make friends. Eat and drink,
be polite, be interested, be grateful.
Don’t travel in packs, really, no more
than two or three people travelling
together. And observe local customs.
It all comes down to good manners
and heavy drinking.
No Reservations, Discovery Travel &
Living, Monday at 8.30pm
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