“It took us many years of trying before we were finally allowed into Iran, the country with which we probably have the most contentious relationship on Earth. At the time, we thought that perhaps our welcome was an indicator of a new attitude, an opening of a window. But as it turned out, that is probably not the case. The window appeared to slam shut in particularly ugly fashion shortly after our departure.
“What we saw, what we came back with, is a deeply confusing story. Because the Iran you see from the inside, once you walk the streets of Tehran, once you meet Iranians, is a very different place than the Iran you know from the news. Nowhere else I’ve been has the disconnect been so extreme between what one sees and feels from the people and what one sees and hears from the government.”
(Anthony Bourdain. “Bourdain's Field Notes: Iran.” Explore Parts Unknown. September 25, 2017.)
I loved Anthony Bourdain and his Travel Channel culinary and cultural adventure program No Reservations. Of course, the episodes were about food … but also about so much more. Above all, thanks to Bourdain, each segment delivered interesting, informative, new perspectives, and often surprising content about the featured destination.
Bourdain (1956-2018) – an American celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian – starred in these programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the human condition. The series made Bourdain a global icon for the way he engagingly and thoughtfully explored the cultures and cuisines of lesser-known parts of the world.
Bourdain was a 1978 graduate of The Culinary Institute of America and a veteran of a number of professional kitchens during his career, which included many years spent as an executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in Manhattan. He first became known for his bestselling book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (2000).
Despite his massive success, Bourdain had a troubled past. During his early years of working in restaurants, he had developed an addiction to heroin and other problems that he later said should have killed him when he was in his 20s. While Bourdain eventually recovered from his heroin addiction, he continued to struggle with his mental health throughout his life.
Bourdain died at age 61 from an apparent suicide in his hotel room in the South of France in June 2018. The 12th and final season of Parts Unknown aired later that year. When America lost Anthony Bourdain, we lost one of our great cultural ambassadors.
Parts Unknown – Iran
I recently viewed a segment of Parts Unknown during season four (2014) in which Anthony Bourdain visited Iran. In the program, Bourdain said he witnessed an extreme disconnect “between what one sees and feels from the people and what one sees and hears from the government.”
Bourdain was known to show up in a country that many Americans deemed "scary" and show a different side of where he was visiting without diminishing what made that place unique. His skillful handling of these situations made for great documentary television. He seemed to find the best in people as he explored each culture. Bourdain's particular manner and voice lent credence to the authenticity.
As I viewed the Iran episode, it struck me how people can come together and genuinely enjoy each other's company while sharing a simple meal. "You like food and are reasonably nice at the table? You show me hospitality? I will sit down with you and break bread,” Bourdain wrote in 2017.
Bourdain often visited places like Iran – locations that were politically or ethnically divided – and proved time and time again that food is a common denominator that can help bridge those gaps. Speaking to PBS News in 2016, Bourdain said, "Food may not be the answer to world peace, but it's a start. I think food, culture, people and landscape are all absolutely inseparable."
(Aly Walansky. “10 important life lessons Anthony Bourdain taught us through food.” Today. June 07, 2019.)
In the episode, New York native Bourdain shared his appreciation for the “overwhelmingly friendly” greeting he and his crew were met with upon their arrival.
“This is not a black-and-white world, as much as people would like to portray it as such. That’s not an apology for anything. I’m just saying that the brief, narrow slice of Iran we give you in this episode of Parts Unknown is only one part of a much deeper, multi-hued, very old and very complicated story,” Bourdain wrote at the time. “Like anything as ancient and as beautiful as the Persian Empire, it’s worth, I think, looking further. But it’s also a place that can warm your heart one day and break it the next.”
This particular segment on Iran is rated by journalist Kaila Yu as one of the fifteen essential episodes of the show. Bourdain and his crew tried for many years to film in Iran, which he calls “a big blank spot on nearly every traveler’s résumé.”
Yu reported he was surprised that the locals welcomed him with open arms in the capital city of Tehran despite their government’s views on the U.S. … as they did in a local bowling alley, where “hijab-wearing women dipped manicured fingers into the bowling balls and joyfully flung them down the lanes.” How does that fit your political view of the Islamic republic?
Yu reports …
“Bourdain then joins a family for a traditional stew of fried chicken and pomegranate, where he learns how much Iranians love guests. 'You tend to kill your guests with kindness here,' he says.
“After he heads south to Isfahan, the camera pans over thousands seated in prayer against the backdrop of the Imam Mosque. He’s served a home-cooked koofteh sabzi – a Persian-style meatball with an entire boiled egg stuffed inside, sour-cherry rice, and more – by Nazila Noebashari, the owner of Aaran Gallery in Tehran. Here, the guests share that they would love to be seen as humans and not as enemies. One jokes, 'We’re not the axis of evil. Just normal evil like everyone else.'”
(Kaila Yu. “15 Essential Episodes of Parts Unknown.” Vulture. July 20, 2021.)
One sad fact about the episode – the show held an interview to ask about the country with a local journalist – Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian. Shortly after the episode aired, Rezaian was arrested and tossed in jail. Bourdain, to his credit, never gave up advocating for him and trying to help. Rezaian eventually got out and thanked Anthony for all he did.
Anthony Bourdain wrote his own monologue for the series. Here are some impressions of Iran straight from Bourdain’s field notes …
“One of the reasons this episode is deeply confusing might be because the vibe in Iran, the general feeling of walking down the streets, through the markets, the way we were received everywhere by total strangers and passersby was overwhelmingly friendly. I have said that Iran is the most outgoingly warm, pro-American place we’ve ever shot, and that’s true: In Tehran, in spite of the fact that you are standing in front of a giant, snarling mural that reads “DEATH TO AMERICA!,” we found that you will usually be treated better by strangers — meaning smiles, offers of assistance, curious attempts to engage in limited English, greetings and expressions of general good will — than anywhere in Western Europe. It would be hard to imagine strangers in Germany or France or England, on recognizing you as American, giving you a thumbs up and a smile simply for your nationality. That was overwhelmingly the case in Iran.
“At the time we were there, the mood was cautiously hopeful for a time when we, Americans and Iranians, might see more of each other in the near future. Iran, it should be pointed out, is very beautiful. The food is spectacular. Iranians are very proud of their cooking — and for good reason. They are also famously generous hosts.
“Iran’s official attitude toward America, its policies, its actions in the region, is a matter of record. How it treats its own citizens with respect to their personal behaviors is also a matter of record. You do not want to be perceived as behaving inappropriately in Iran , as we saw in the video of kids dancing along to the song “Happy.” And what is inappropriate is an ever shifting thing. What the “government” or the president says is OK one day might be deemed dangerous or unacceptable by the clergy or the Basij (the roving unofficial but official religious police) on another — as we came to find out.
“I’m going to be careful about what I say here. Even here.
“Like I said. Words have consequences.”
(Anthony Bourdain. “Bourdain's Field Notes: Iran.” Explore Parts Unknown. September 25, 2017.)
Conclusion
With his unassuming human approach, Anthony Bourdain found cultural traditions to be experiences that should be treasured. He was a master teacher of this message. In Parts Unknown, he pointed out the many differences in cultures he visited, yet he relished showing us the similarities – the good features we all share as human inhabitants of the planet. And, Bourdain was a great communicator who often used humor and irony to make his points. And, above all, he was a great listener, preferring to understand rather than resist novel thoughts.
I miss new episodes of Parts Unknown. I've watched other shows that employ food to reveal world cultures, but they just aren't the same. Why? The answer is evident to me – they lack the “person” who was the gracious host – Anthony Bourdain. His touch was so personal that you felt as if you were on each trip with him. And, as each segment began, you knew you were in for a great travelogue … and an important lesson in cultural identity taught through the stomach, the heart, and the brain.
The Invention of Cuisine
By Carol Muske-Dukes
Imagine for a moment
the still life of our meals,
meat followed by yellow cheese,
grapes pale against the blue armor of fish.
Imagine a thin woman
before bread was invented,
playing a harp of wheat in the field.
There is a stone, and behind her
the bones of the last killed,
the black bird on her shoulder
that a century later
will fly with trained and murderous intent.
They are not very hungry
because cuisine has not yet been invented.
Nor has falconry,
nor the science of imagination.
All they have is the pure impulse to eat,
which is not enough to keep them alive
and this little moment
before the woman redeems
the sprouted seeds at her feet
and gathers the olives falling from the trees
for her recipes.
Imagine. Out in the fields
this very moment
they are rolling the apples to press,
the lamb turns in a regular aura of smoke.
See, the woman looks once behind her
before picking up the stone,
looks back once at the beasts,
the trees,
that sky
above the white stream
where small creatures live and die
looking upon each other
as food.
Carol Muske-Dukes, “The Invention of Cuisine” from Skylight (New York: Doubleday, 1981). Copyright © 1981 by Carol Muske-Dukes. Reprinted with the permission of the author. Source: An Octave Above Thunder: New and Selected Poems (Doubleday, 1997)
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