He certainly is no Ustinov or Michael Palin, but Bourdain is a better travel show host than the legion of other generic hosts at TLC - you know the type, everything is exciting, everything tastes great, all the locals are fantastic, blahblahblah. He has no apparent interest in the history or architecture or archeology of the places he visits, but then again his focus is the food and one could say that he is more than gracious and humble when it comes to local fare. Seriously, some of the stuff he has eaten so as to not offend his hosts, haunt me to this day and would make Bear Grylls start dry heaving. Unwashed warthog anus, anyone? The Romania episode that seems to be attracting a lot of hate, is an instant TV classic of the highest order, if you can't find surreal humour and travel madness in it, you are dead inside. "Entertaining and feeding the tourists" is a racket in every country - you feel the need to protest but you know it's true.
Antony Bourdain gets it. He has a gig where he is getting paid to stuff his face with food and get hammered on the local hooch, the man is a chef and not an ambassador or an Anthropology Ph.D. Not all his insights are hilarious and yes, it is hard to produce decent commentary when you are hungover, but seriously people, some episodes and observations are pure gold.
To better understand where Bourdain is coming from, read "Kitchen Confidential", you will not regret it.
Antony Bourdain gets it. He has a gig where he is getting paid to stuff his face with food and get hammered on the local hooch, the man is a chef and not an ambassador or an Anthropology Ph.D. Not all his insights are hilarious and yes, it is hard to produce decent commentary when you are hungover, but seriously people, some episodes and observations are pure gold.
To better understand where Bourdain is coming from, read "Kitchen Confidential", you will not regret it.