{"id":336,"date":"2010-03-29T09:02:44","date_gmt":"2010-03-29T14:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/?p=336"},"modified":"2010-03-29T09:02:44","modified_gmt":"2010-03-29T14:02:44","slug":"anthony-bourdains-no-reservations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/general\/anthony-bourdains-no-reservations\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com<\/h4>\n
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Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations<\/p><\/div>\n

Another one of my favorite food television programs is Anthony Bourdain\u2019s No Reservations<\/a> that is shown on the Travel Channel.\u00a0 First of all, what can you possibly not like about a television show that has a parental content warning at the beginning?\u00a0 That\u2019s how the show starts and the warning is necessary given the prose Anthony narrates throughout.<\/p>\n

Bourdain travels all around the World and sometimes even stays within the borders of the United States.\u00a0 He always hooks up with a local guide who lives in the area he is traveling to and they provide much of the cultural anchoring.\u00a0 I really enjoy listening to the stories the guides tell about their areas and the history of the food there as well as the general history of the location.\u00a0 It\u2019s fitting that the show is on the Travel Channel given it\u2019s as much about the location as it is about the cuisine.\u00a0 But foodies of the World, no need to despair, there is plenty of coverage on the cuisines of each area and the food gets top billing.<\/p>\n

Some of his more memorable trips have been right here in the United States and I especially liked his Hunter S. Thompson throwbacks on his show about Las Vegas, Nevada.\u00a0 He went south of the border once to Mexico City and after watching the show I can\u2019t wait to go there on a food journey.\u00a0 Safety issues aside, the Mexico City food looked simply amazing.\u00a0 I could almost smell the street-side tacos and wanted to reach through the television to grab a few while I watched the episode.<\/p>\n

Bourdain, while covering the food of the areas, also ventures into fun side stories along the way.\u00a0 In the Mexico City episode I mentioned earlier he ends up taking a boat ride into the middle of nowhere.\u00a0 In the location he finds a guy who runs a \u201cmuseum\u201d out of a shack surrounded by doll heads hanging from the trees.\u00a0 It\u2019s a surreal scene and has the sort of funky vibe I love to see in his show.<\/p>\n

Bourdain goes on to visit war-torn countries, was even evacuated by the US Marines via hovercraft in one episode, and tries some of the strangest food you can imagine.\u00a0 From the kim chi in Korea to the salted shark in Iceland there isn\u2019t much Anthony doesn\u2019t at least try to eat.\u00a0 For the most part he says he enjoys and likes the food he tries although sometimes I\u2019ve seen him say something is horrible.\u00a0 He drinks too much, eats too much, and used to smoke too much on the shows but he gave up smoking recently.<\/p>\n

Anthony got his start as a cook and eventually a chef in New York and has the credentials to back up his show.\u00a0 He knows what he is talking about and it shows in every episode.\u00a0 He got his start in show business by writing a book that became hugely popular (according to him.)\u00a0 I suggest you pickup a copy if you haven\u2019t read it yet.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of my favorite books on the food world.<\/p>\n

As I said in the beginning, the writing used in the show makes for wonderful television and I look forward to every new episode even though I don\u2019t always look forward to the food I will hear about.\u00a0 Just don\u2019t watch the show with young children. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n