I recently touted— and fawned over– Anthony Bourdain’s Travel Channel show No Reservations. Now, that barometer of all things culturally significant– The Onion AV Club— has just published a lengthy interview with Bourdain. The interview touches on everything from his love of the Ramones, to his “Namibian warthog experience” to why he hasn’t yet “sold out.” A couple highlights:
“The show is really popular in Southeast Asia, so every time I go out there, they see me eating crazy shit, and people will always say, “Oh, you’ve tried durian? Have you tried this? It’s even stinkier.” So I’ve pretty much covered the waterfront in that regard. And it’s not a focus of the show, but when you’re a guest of honor in certain parts of the world-and with a track record like mine-people want to give you stuff that will make you throw up.”
“It helps, also, being a chef, so I can always reach out to the local chef. It’s like calling up the local capo. ‘You know me, you know what I like. I’m looking for the best dive bar in town. Can you take me there? You don’t mind if my crew shoots while we’re out there, do you?’ So it’s as un-artificial as a travel show can be. What we desperately want to avoid is footage of me taking one bite of everything and saying, ‘Ooh, that’s delicious.’ I have the luxury of being able to look at the camera and say, ‘This fucking sucks.'”
For more, check out Gadling’s July interview with Bourdain.