Recent Reads

World Travel: An Irreverent Guide by Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever

Read in April, 2020

Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever, who had assisted Bourdain with his writing projects since 2002, sat down together in early 2018 and asked themselves if the world needed another travel guide, thinking of basing one on his popular television series, “No Reservations” and “Parts Unknown”.  Woolever started in on the task and completed a few chapter outlines, but never got them back to Bourdain before he died in June, 2018.

Woolever continued to write the book in the format they discussed, relying on his most popular shows to form the backbone of the guide.  Most of the chapters were familiar to me, since I enjoyed “traveling” with Bourdain on Sunday nights when his shows aired on my local network. I was surprised to see that some of the best recollections in the book are the “guest” essays written by friends and colleagues who traveled with Tony, specifically his brother Chris, whose insight and excellent writing are as keen as Tony’s.  Talent must have run rampant in that family.

Tony was a force and had a memorable story to tell about his first book.  His adoring mother encouraged him to reach high and “just send a portion of, Kitchen Confidential, to The New Yorker.” They accepted it upon first reading. That’s how good a writer Bourdain was. It would have been a pleasure to have read this new book, wholly written by him.

Do I have a favorite essay? Hard to choose, but I especially enjoyed the section on American cities, many of which I have visited and have even dined in a few of the restaurants featured. The last time Tony and crew were in Seattle, shortly before he died, he visited several venues within the city limits and then went to a clam bake on nearby Vashon Island.  Tony loved visiting places where pot was legal, which he made very clear, so Washington state was a must see. Don’t think of me as a prude, but if you ever watched one of his last  shows, filmed in Seattle, please let me know the moment when you think the camera crew (as a courtesy to Tony) should have stopped filming him, loose with his words and actions, wholly impacted by the northwest edible, (not food) someone must have supplied him freely. And then again, why does it matter?  It was pure Tony; high on life, company, and cuisine. Nobody did it better.

Overall, it’s a good read and it’s really nice to have something tangible about Tony on a shelf nearby. Oh, how we miss him.