In the Weeds: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain by Tom Vitale

When Anthony Bourdain died by suicide in June of 2018, the devastation was immediate and lasting for so many, including me. It felt like a good friend died, even though I'd never met him.

Someone who did know Anthony Bourdain was author of In the Weeds, Tom Vitale. Having worked with Anthony Bourdain for over 15 years as a producer/director on No Reservations, The Layover, and Parts Unknown, Tom Vitale knew Tony better than almost anybody. In the Weeds is Vitale's story of working with such a complicated, mythical figure as Anthony Bourdain.

When I started reading In the Weeds, it was initially slow-going because it felt like Vitale was telling Tony's story from his backseat/behind-the-camera view. But as the story progressed and when the book started to feel the most engaging, was when Vitale became more confident in asserting his own story of traveling around the world rather than just describing Tony's reaction to everything. Some of my favorite moments in the narrative are when Tony isn't even present, like when Vitale went scouting locations for the Jamaica shoot of Parts Unknown and he and producer Josh Ferrell made all manner of absurd proposals just to spite the new line producer who was slashing costs left and right and forced their team to get pre-approval on any cost over $200 despite the fact that they were never extravagant with money. I also really appreciated his story of having dinner with Asia Argento in Rome after Tony's death because he did a something that I don't think Laurie Woolever's oral biography did, which was to take care not to come off as blaming Argento for Tony's death. One thing that has bothered me in the collateral damage of Bourdain's death is the misogynistic hot takes that have plagued Argento, essentially saying that she is the one responsible for his death by suicide. While Vitale does not absolve Argento, going so far as to say to her, "Everyone thinks he killed himself because of you," he also allows readers to come to their own conclusions and even manages to give her some grace. And finally, I found his telling of the behind-the-scenes chaos, drama, and choreography that was required to pull off that one short scene with President Obama in Vietnam in 2016.

Die-hard Bourdain fans will be initially be drawn to this book for untold Tony stories, but they will ultimately stay for Vitale's own gifted storytelling.

In the Weeds: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain by Tom Vitale*
Published: October 5, 2021
Publisher: Hachette Books
Genre: Memoir
Audience: Adults/Travel lovers
Disclosure: Library copy

*Purchasing the book from the above Bookshop affiliate link supports independent bookstores and gives me a small percentage of the sale. 

Remembering Anthony Bourdain with No Reservations

I remember the first time I ever heard Anthony Bourdain's name. It was 2005 and my husband and I had just moved back home to Michigan from his three year assignment Germany. I saw a commercial for this new show on the Travel Channel called No Reservations. Feeling a sense of loss of our time globe-trotting around Europe, I heard his tag line, "Be a traveler, not a tourist" and I already knew that I liked him before I watched his show.

That first show in Paris was a revelation and hooked me from the very beginning. He wasn't there to visit Notre Dame or the Eiffel Tower or show untraveled Americans the underwhelming Mona Lisa at the Louvre. He was there to immerse himself in the culture. He was there to humble himself to the people at their table. He was there to tell stories. And what a storyteller he was.

Through his entire stint on television, whether it was on Food Network, Travel Channel, or CNN, you never got the sense that he was trying to promote himself or that he sold out on his values. He was just naturally curious about people and the world and he wanted to share his learning with his audience.

But that natural curiosity came at a price.

Over the past few days, so many people have wondered how we could be depressed since he had the life so many would dream of: traveling the globe, eating and making award-winning television. But here's the thing. Anthony Bourdain epitomized the distinct difference between what it means to be nice vs. what it means to be kind. Niceness is a facade, a role you play to be accepted in polite society. Niceness is how you behave to someone's face while being someone entirely different behind their back. I know plenty of nice people.

I don't know that many kind people. Because kindness isn't just what you say. It's what you do. There's no bullshitting kindness.

Anthony Bourdain wasn't nice. He was crass, irreverent, and biting. He told it like it was and pulled no punches.

But Anthony Bourdain was kind. He spoke up for marginalized voices and wasn't too proud to admit when he was wrong. He visited "parts unknown," not to show off other cultures like zoo animals, but to show how, around the table, we all want the same things: family, friends, and community.

But after a while, kindness can take a toll. It can wear you down. Because when other people hurt, you hurt too.

I'm sorry you hurt, Tony. I'm sorry that you felt like the only way to end your pain was to end your life. Your presence in this world brought light to dark places and now our world is a little bit darker in your absence. Godspeed, dear Tony. Even though I never knew you, you felt like a friend. You were a friend to us all. A friend who wasn't afraid to tell you harsh truths that you didn't always want to hear, but a friend just the same.

Read more about Anthony Bourdain:
Don't Eat Before Reading This - The New Yorker April 1999
Kick Out the Jams - Bourdain's Tumblr after his visit to Detroit. It's one of my favorite pieces of writing by him.

Anthony Bourdain and the Power of Telling the Truth - The New Yorker June 8, 2018
The Best of Anthony Bourdain - The New York Times June 8, 2018
Anthony Bourdain Was the Kind of "Bad Boy" We Need More Of - The New York Times June 8, 2018

Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the world of Food and the People Who Cook by Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain is one of those people who elicits strong reactions of zealous admiration or vile disgust in people, sometimes at the same time. He is no doubt the bad boy of food and travel. He is never afraid to tell you what's on his mind, and even less concerned what people think of him. That is, after all, how he became so popular.

Medium Raw is more a series of essays than a continuous narrative. Bourdain pontificates about everything from the history of his contempt for the Food Network to the softening of his heart proceeding the birth of his daughter. Many chapters in this book are page-turning, but others felt conceited and indulgent - written only for the benefit of his audience to see how important and knowledgeable he is. I skimmed through about seven chapters in this book because I just didn't find the subject matter all that interesting.

What I did find captivating and/or endearing:
1) Bourdain writes a couple chapters in this book about his daughter and what it's like being a dad
2) After many years of ripping on Jamie Oliver, Tony concedes in Medium Raw that Oliver is a hero of the food world in his chapter titled "Heroes and Villains".
3) Tony has always been vague and elusive about his disdain for the Food Network. He'll give a sound bite here and there, and then talk around his feelings. In this book, he finally gives the background behind those bitter feelings.

Passage that pulled me into the book:

Ms. Johnson was clearly not delighted to meet me or my partners. You could feel the air go out of the room the moment she entered. It became instantly a place without hope or humor. There was a limp handshake as cabin pressure changed, a black hole of fun - all light, all possibility of joy was sucked into the vortex of this hunched and scowling apparition. The indifference bordering on naked hostility was palpable. My partners and I left knowing that it was the end of us at Food Network. - p. 8

Medium Raw: a Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook by Anthony Bourdain
First published: June 2010
Number of pages: 304
Genre: Nonfiction
Audience: Foodies

Our "Evening with Anthony Bourdain" Ruined by Some Drunks Who Couldn't Keep Their Mouths Shut

For my husband's birthday back in August I purchased tickets to see "An Evening with Anthony Bourdain" at the Palace Theater in Columbus. My husband has family near Columbus so I thought that would be a perfect opportunity to go visit them for the weekend while also seeing a presentation by one of our favorite TV personalities.

I have mentioned Tony Bourdain's name several times here on this blog because the opening line to his show No Reservations is what inspired me to create this blog in the first place. My husband and I watch his show religiously whenever a new season of it rolls around on The Travel Channel.

I had absolutely zero expectations for the evening and just went into it hoping to gain more respect and insight into The Travel Channel's Bad Boy of Globe-Trotting. Tony by himself on stage for two hours was extremely entertaining and I have to hand it to him for being so articulate, poignant, and humorous all rolled into one. Part Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, Dee Dee Ramone, and Gordon Ramsay, he manages to get you to ponder the meaning of life while laughing hysterically at the trials, misfortunes, and obscenities of his travel stories.

But all the laughter and life lessons were drowned out by the incessant gum flapping of the drunkards sitting next to us. They spent over half the show talking to each other rather than listening to Tony. All of the people around them, including me, had steam coming out of our ears we were so angry. Now I am not a confrontational person in the least. In fact, when it comes to fight or flight responses, 99.9% of the time I choose flight. But I was so incredibly upset at these fools ruining my evening, I found myself on several occasions, blurting out expletives in their direction and confronted them twice by telling them to shut up. As the show progressed, their behavior got so erratic and bizarre that we moved over to the two empty seats beside us. During the Q & A portion of the evening, the lady blurted out a question without being called on and then wouldn't let Tony move on to the next person. Many of the people around her told her to shut up and I actually found myself yelling at Tony, "There are actually people over here in line who are WAITING to ask you questions. Why don't you call on them?"

Well apparently Tony's response to her question wasn't good enough because she wanted to ask him another question. So she actually followed protocol and got in line this time to do so... but she was so drunk (or high, I'm not sure which) that she went and sat back down and got back up on three different occasions - presumably because she couldn't remain upright long enough to wait to ask her question.

I am so disappointed with the turn of the events of the evening because I really did enjoy what I could hear of his presentation (even the Rachael Ray jokes). I'm even contemplating purchasing tickets to his April show in Chicago because I felt like I missed so much from his talk last night. My husband and I have never been to Chicago before and we've always wanted to go, so this might be our excuse to do so. Maybe the next time I might be able to see past my cloud of anger long enough to think of a question to ask him. On the drive home this morning I thought of a really great question I would have loved to ask him but of course I was too upset last night to think of anything other than how some drunk people ruined my evening.