Anthony Bourdain: Indian food won't kill you
It’s true, over the years I've enjoyed my share of
"cooking shows." There was that wonderful, low, low budget PBS show,
The Frugal Gourmet with Jeff Smith, a charming, slightly odd-ball, raconteur
who shared with his audience in his buttery voice, his peculiar brand of down
to Earth reasonableness as he prepared appealing dishes and set them down in
front of the camera. And there was that mega-popular network half hour show that
I'd watch with my mom, The Galloping Gourmet. This one starred Graham Kerr who
was for us, not only charming, but fascinating with his somewhat flamboyant
dress, his British accent not quite like any other we'd heard before, and his
habit of sipping a bit too much red wine as he cooked for us… or so I recall.
There were many others, of course, Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Emeril, Lydia
Bastianich, and on and on. But as entertaining and heartwarming as they
were, they were hardly ever challenging, hardly ever inspiring (beyond getting
you into your own kitchen to venture further than scramble eggs, that is), and
certainly, hardly ever truly thought provoking. They were easy to categorize,
put in a box, and see as television fluff. Pperhaps fluff with style and substance, but
fluff none the less.
Over the past decade, this has changed radically, as has
American appreciation for food and the event of eating it. Somewhere along the
way "cooking shows" have become "food shows" and food, its
origins, its preparation, and its presentation
and consumption have become hip! One of the hipsters who has led this charge,
who has made being food-wise, food-sophisticated, even food-snarky, and at the
very least, food-centric, something that we now all want to be, is Anthony
Bourdain.
Unlike Smith and Kerr, though, Anthony is NOT a goof ball, not a food geek or a food dork, he's not even, I believe, by his own admission, a great cook. He comes off, somewhat paradoxically, as a guy who has earned his slightly curmudgeonly outlook on things by virtue of having been through the mill, a tough mill at that, but one who's still "hungry for more" (one of the intro tag lines from one of his shows) which is why he explores the world, ferreting out the good stuff and providing insightful perspective on our world gone astray, explaining what's cool and what isn't and why. If you haven't seen his shows (that's plural - I'm aware of A Cook's Tour, No Reservations, The Layover, and Parts Unknown. Did I miss any?) you really need to find your way to some episodes and pay attention, because THIS is GREAT television!
And, before I forget, I've got to mention that if you surf YouTube's search engine you'll find dozens and dozens and dozens of young people who are playing the game of being Anthony Bourdain, posting online their own "show episodes" of themselves traveling the world, sharing their food experiences and their reflections on life for their audiences, wherever and whatever they might be. When I was growing up kids wanted to be rock stars, now they want to be like globetrotting, tattoo getting, not at all embarrassed to admit that, like Woody Allen, he has no credibility on the dance floor and never catches any fish in contrived food show fishing scenes, Anthony Bourdain. Hope I did you justice, Anthony!
Unlike Smith and Kerr, though, Anthony is NOT a goof ball, not a food geek or a food dork, he's not even, I believe, by his own admission, a great cook. He comes off, somewhat paradoxically, as a guy who has earned his slightly curmudgeonly outlook on things by virtue of having been through the mill, a tough mill at that, but one who's still "hungry for more" (one of the intro tag lines from one of his shows) which is why he explores the world, ferreting out the good stuff and providing insightful perspective on our world gone astray, explaining what's cool and what isn't and why. If you haven't seen his shows (that's plural - I'm aware of A Cook's Tour, No Reservations, The Layover, and Parts Unknown. Did I miss any?) you really need to find your way to some episodes and pay attention, because THIS is GREAT television!
And, before I forget, I've got to mention that if you surf YouTube's search engine you'll find dozens and dozens and dozens of young people who are playing the game of being Anthony Bourdain, posting online their own "show episodes" of themselves traveling the world, sharing their food experiences and their reflections on life for their audiences, wherever and whatever they might be. When I was growing up kids wanted to be rock stars, now they want to be like globetrotting, tattoo getting, not at all embarrassed to admit that, like Woody Allen, he has no credibility on the dance floor and never catches any fish in contrived food show fishing scenes, Anthony Bourdain. Hope I did you justice, Anthony!
I'll also mention here that unlike so many other popular TV
shows, I can never find free past episodes of Anthony's shows on YouTube. Nope,
you can find tons of those little excised snippets of them that give you an
idea of what happened in those episodes, but not full ones. But who knows, maybe
for someone simply trying to squeeze hours and hours of high quality television
viewing into the unrealistic space of a short period of time, this is just as
good? But, nah!
OK, enough background and context. Here we have an atypical
Bourdain video of Anthony sitting down to dinner with another grey
haired, 50 something-ish, super appealing cable TV personality, Anderson
Cooper. As is quickly established in this episode, Anthony plays the role of
the experienced guide to planet Earth and the worthwhile and wonderful things
it has to offer members of the human race. And Anderson plays his straight man,
a self styled naive who has yet to dabble in the pleasures of potentially
dangerous vices like... Indian Food. And
Anthony, showing his mellow side, patiently and knowingly is a good friend and
makes it alright for Anderson to be himself and find out one of those truths
about real life that apparently has thus far escaped him; namely, that Indian
Food Won't Kill You and it's actually pretty damn good!
5 seconds into this extremely economically and effectively
edited clip we hear Anderson say "Your show has started to make me think
about... about food. And about that it's more than just fuel... and, that uh, I
don't know... I actually went to Tangiers because you had gone there and done
your show on it and I enjoyed your show and I thought... Yeah, that'd be a cool
place... so, you've had a big impact ...). And Anthony, as all of this is said to
him is smiling that wonderful little smile of his. A smile that seems to me to
reveal that he is very pleased to be there at that moment, on television with
another of its stars - a kind of "This is SO cool, pinch me so I know I'm
not dreaming", smile - a sort of bemused, "Yes, my magic is
powerful!" smile - a kind of "You know, this is SO simple, all I had
to do was be who I really am and work my ass off for years to make it
here!" smile. And he, knowing full well that he is on camera and how to
look good on camera, turns to Anderson Cooper and says in a sort of
understated, I don't want to brag, but thanks for the compliment, way "Well, I've done some good in the
world." And yes, Anthony you have because Anderson, who is clearly
enjoying himself too, and clearly not anticipating any unpleasantness in his
mouth or stress to his digestive system, apparently has chosen for this dinner
(or was it the show's producer who actually chose) an Indian restaurant. And
this launches a discussion accompanied by clips from a variety of Anthony's
shows, of India, Indian food, Indian restaurants in India, Punjabi vegetarian
food, etc. And let me say that I thoroughly enjoy this video's 2 and half minutes of these
2 experienced, well spoken
gentlemen trading observations about food and travel. Good stuff!
Just a couple of months ago I took a 2 week tour of India
and, as is often the case when one books a commercial tour, you have no choice
but to get to know your bus mates somewhat intimately. Astoundingly, there were
people on this tour, who for its duration, insisted that they didn't like
Indian food even though they hardly had ever tried it. Let me repeat, there
they were accompanying me on a tour of India, meal after meal shying away from the glorious food set before us
because they were certain that well, you know, "It's curry and it's too spicy!" However, as
was plainly demonstrated for us over the course of 35 meals, Indian food offers
many, many other things beside curry (the spice) and Curries (the category of
dish) and most of it is NOT spicy, unless, of course, you ask the waiter to do
you a favor and have the cook make it spicy for you. We had some extraordinary
Indian food and some ordinary Indian food and, no, I didn't get Delhi Belly and
have to run to the toilet constantly, although I did put on a few pounds due to
over eating. And I suppose that at the end of the day, that my having chosen
Idly with coconut sauce instead of corn flakes with milk at the hotel breakfast
buffet in Agra, for instance, isn't such a big deal. Certainly doesn’t make me
a hero. But, this is a big world with all sorts of people, people who over the
millenia have scoured their environment for good things to eat and have
developed ingenius and very tasty ways to prepare them. And sampling these
comestibles is a way to acknowledge that there is much to appreciate on this
planet and that part of life’s purpose is to experience and reflect on its
variety, and who knows, there may be things to learn and love, and trying unfamiliar stuff may
enrich one's life significantly. At least, so it seems to me. And for those
fellow travelers on this spinning globe who are tone deaf to the key of life,
who just can't seem to hear the song of Planet Earth, let me finish up
here by repeating Anthony's words "Indian food won't kill you!"
