World Travel by Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain was working on this book, at least in the formative stages, when he killed himself in 2018. His long time assistant, Laurie Woolever, his long time assistant took the brainstorming sessions they had and the places they had been plus the people who knew him well, and put together this book posthumously, something that is maybe more or less what he would have wanted it to be. I would be interested in her story as well--she worked for Mario Batali before she spent a decade with Tony and so she has seen and heard a lot. I have made a couple of attempts to watch some of No Reservations and Parts Unknown, and it just doesn't quite click for me--even his writing is not 100% my cup of tea. That said, I love his approach to food, places to eat, things to savor, his values when it comes to the people who prepare food and work in the business (treat the kitchen staff well, value them, and without immigrants we wouldn't be able to eat out is how I would sum it up), and how to think about travel. I do not mind his abrasiveness, in fact I kind of dig it, but a little less wouldn't go amiss. He is really into bars, bar culture, and drinking in a way that does not resonate with me at all, and it does seep in to what he looks for when dining out, so while I like the places he goes, I am not always on board with where he goes when he gets there. Reading this book (the audiobook has long stretches that are read by his brother, who sounds eerily like him) I found out two important things. The first is that he agrees with me on the best cities--Montreal over Vancouver or Toronto, and Melbourne over Sydney--as well as worthy countries for food forward travel. The other is that there are places I have not been that I really need to get to! I liked this a lot, not all of it, and not everything about it, but if you are into either food or travel, this is worth a read.