I covered T&A travel a couple weeks ago with my review of Get Out! This week, I’m talking food travel shows. This might be more appropriate for CliqueClack Food, but I won’t be sharing any of my culinary secrets. (Unless you have a hankering for grilled cheese sandwiches.) The Travel Channel seems to schedule just as many food related shows as it does straight travel series. My feeling is food and travel are interconnected. Whenever I shuffle off on an excursion, I make a point to seek out intriguing places to eat.
No one dines in more exotic locales than celebrity chef/author Anthony Bourdain. His most recent foray into TV land is called Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, which airs on the Travel Channel (and elsewhere) at various times during the week. While I enjoy the food segments, my main purpose for watching the show is to vicariously visit cool locations like Vietnam, Iceland, Peru, Tokyo and Tuscany. The guy gets around. I refer to him as the Indiana Jones of TV chefs. He’d probably dig that moniker considering he’s very much in love with himself.
Bourdain is the bad boy of celebrity chefs. He has good hair, frequently curses, smokes cigarettes, is inked with tats and dons an earring. He’s also an ex-drug addict who loves punk rock. Look out Emeril Lagasse — Tony is dangerous! Bourdain also hates Rachel Ray. He uses his show as a platform to bash the cherubic Ray at every opportunity. Apparently, he has a problem with Rachel’s half-assed approach to cooking. I find her adorable but equally annoying. I never trust people who smile as much as she does; I keep waiting for her to unzip that chipper mask covering her face to reveal the head of an alien.
No Reservations features an overabundance of Bourdain’s narration. A little goes a long way, but Tony has yet to grasp this concept. He tries way too hard to be witty. He can be a funny host, if he shuts his trap for thirty seconds. It’s okay to let the images breathe. The dense jungles of Peru and the picturesque mountains of Tuscany are striking enough without listening to his rambling voice-over. Oh well, it’s his show, and since it’s pretty popular, I doubt he’ll alter his methods.
I give the guy shit, but the series is very entertaining. Bourdain will eat anything once. How does warthog rectum sound? According to Tony, it’s not very tasty. I agree. Aardvark rectum is much more to my liking. Sauté in butter, then add a touch of lemon. Yummy.
Despite being a bit of a douche, Bourdain is the reason the show works. He’ll travel to the far corners of the planet without fear. He’s been to Uzbekistan, Ghana and was trapped in Beirut during the 2006 Lebanon War. Seems like an awful lot of trouble to sample some Hummus. Although, being caught in a war zone must have done wonders for his street cred.
Before I leave you, am I alone in thinking that Bourdain looks a helluva lot like crooner Leonard Cohen? You be the judge.
Clacked by Scott Tunstall 
on Jun 03, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
I’m not sure who he looks like, but a few years ago I had an epiphany of who he reminded me most of: Dr. House from “House”. I think Bourdain gets along better with people, but in many other ways, their personalities are a match. Imagine House about 40% happier than he is now, and getting to travel all over.
It’s a great show. I’m not as thrilled about the eating weird food part (they have entire other shows about that now on more than one network). Bourdain is not only a good TV show host, he’s also an excellent guest for all the locals who meet him for drinks, invite him to their parties, take him through the local markets, and of course, have him back to their house to share a meal with their families. He’s always polite and respectful. Plus he makes a great stand-in for the common person–even after all his journeys, he’s no travel snob. I can relate to him, and he makes his experiences connect with me, and I’ve hardly been anywhere.