From being a rebel bad boy who is also to a incredibly loving person, to a father who wanted to do everything for his kids while also leaving half the year to work.
He helped shine a light to the beauty of the world cultures while banging hookers. He was the guy who would give you the shirt off his back and then rip into you on a bad day.
He's a complex dude. Someone who I admire from the distance and would absolutely hate to be in the same room as him.
America struggles by its contradictions. I strive to be an American like Paine and Bourdain, but their opposites are also iconically American. There is something beautiful and redeemable about our country, and we should fight for that.
It’s also important to welcome folks to break bread and eat mashed potatoes with us. If we love our culture why would we not proudly share it with those interested in trying aspects of it. Why would we not be willing to let people try to tweak it and find even better ways it can be.
What about this, exactly, is "American"? Because as someone recently returning to America, it's incredibly disheartening knowing just how few people give a fuck about anything that isn't American. I'd say it's actually quite the opposite: Americans give the fewest fucks about other cultures, both domestically and abroad.
If you have a continent-wide country with varying climate and geographies, and each states are like their own culture, and even foreigners flock to your country and impart their own culture into yours; why leave or take interest of the outside world anyhow? I'm not defending the insularity by the way, I'm just explaining why many Americans behave the way they do.
Insufficient explanation. Culture across American states ranges from Mayo to Milk. Incoming cultures are not embraced; they are whitewashed and blanched out. And this is half the reason why people are so willing to move from New York to Florida, because there's virtually no cultural difference between the two that would interrupt their enjoyment of the geographical/climate changes. (Imagine the real cultural differences between moving from London to Rome, or Seoul to Bangkok?)
The reason Americans are so ignorant of the rest of the world is because they're geographically isolated and because they're fed lies of American exceptionalism that convinces them that anything outside the country would be worse than anything inside the country.
Poor fuckers. Travelling is the best thing you can do in your life, at least n my opinion. I feel like I really relate to Anthony in all facets of life and I'll always upvote posts about him
Long story, I suppose, but the short of it is that this guy was a prominent celebrity chef who, more than just eating with people, was a strong advocate of cross-cultural dialogue and the value of culture (including food, naturally) as a means of communication between peoples and a way of spreading understanding. Very outspoken politically, anti-xenophobic, anti-racist, anti-exploitation.
So combining cultural tolerance (something many of us would like to hope is American, if we can get the shovel out and dig deep down inside) and enjoying food (very American) hits close for many of us.
Imagine seeing a meme like this and feeling the need to append vitriol to the end of it. Just enjoy what's out there, you don't need to say "I just hate the way modern americans just want to hate everything".
From one human to another, I'm going to recommend trying to look for the good, rather than the bad. Nothing kills motivation for action as much as pessimism.
I get that there is pain and suffering all over the damn world, but dwelling on it doesn't really provide wisdom. It just makes it harder to find reasons to get out of bed in the morning. I don't think I should have to defend taking care of one's mental health on a post about Anthony Bourdain.
You know what, I'll practice what I preach. I worked with a guy who reminded me of Anthony Bourdain. By 30, the guy had traveled all over the world, supped from springs in Taiwan and bunked with strangers in Germany. Then went back to the US to settle down and do odd jobs. I wish I had the chance to coax more stories out of him but we stayed busy during working hours.