The traveling chef

culinary cultures, why we travel — By Bob Riel on July 31, 2007 at 3:02 pm

Anthony Bourdain is a well known author and host of the Travel Channel show No Reservations, where he expounds on the topics of food and travel. Recently, he did an online interview with the website Gadling. An excerpt:

How did you get interested in travel? Were your foreign experiences limited to your trips to France as a kid, or did you get the opportunity to travel to other places?

What right minded person would NOT travel the world if and when given the chance? I began to travel seriously as soon as I COULD. It took a successful book–and an indulgent network to allow me the opportunity–and I’m making the most of it. Until Kitchen Confidential at age 44, I’d been hardly anywhere.

Sometimes it’s tough to tell which you are most: an eater or a traveler. You seem to really get to the heart of a culture through its food, so much that the viewer forgets they’re watching a culinary-focused show. Which comes first? Do you travel to eat, or eat to travel?

Eat first. It seems to open doors if you show people that you’re willing, eager and appreciative of their food. Food, of course, is the purest expression of a culture and a region and a history–and people tend to be proud of their food. Eating and drinking–breaking bread with our subjects (my crew as well) is what makes so much of what we get to see and do–and the unique way we see it–possible.