Anthony Bourdain was found dead in Le Chambard on June 8th, 2018, a hotel in France. His first job was a dishwasher in the kitchen” I was a happy dishwasher,” he said in a 2016 interview on NPR’s “Fresh Air.” “I jokingly say that I learned every important lesson, all the most important lessons of my life as a dishwasher.”  Anthony went from dishwashing to trying to rank up in the restaurant industry.

He did not achieve fame until his early 40s, Anthony wrote a book, without holding any truth back about being a chef, the highs and the lows. That book was lucky enough to hit a sweet spot for people because it was one of the first of its kind. “When the book came out, it very quickly transformed my life — I mean, changed everything,” he told NPR. Anthony eventually had 4 shows focusing on him with travel and food around the globe, with altogether over 25 seasons of food and travel related entertainment.

Anthony explored a ridiculous amount of areas throughout the globe, so many I won’t cover them all. But the best adventures are the worst adventures. Anthony found himself in many dangerous locations while filming a show about food and travel. In 2011, Bourdain and his crew filmed in a war zone of Iraqi Kurdistan as well as the Turkish Kurdistan, which he said was even more dangerous at the time, for No Reservations. To prepare for the show, Bourdain and his crew received days of security-training exercises. In the episode, Bourdain don’s body armor and travels with four heavily armed Peshmerga (Kurdish fighters) as well as a security team of three British security experts with years of experience of working in conflict zones. Yet Bourdain and his crew remained unharmed, saying the training was much harder than what they faced in Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkish Kurdistan, going so far as to call the latter “lovely.” Though Bourdain admits there were slight issues and some tension along the way, at the time he said he’d still recommend Iraqi Kurdistan to anyone looking for “off-beaten track adventure tourism.”

A lovely person who turned a life of dread into a life of adventure, Anthony will be missed by many in the profession.

Sources cited:

https://www.thedailymeal.com/travel/anthony-bourdain-most-dangerous-destinations-gallery/slide-6

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/08/us/anthony-bourdain-obit/index.html