Anthony Bourdain was one of the most famous celebrity chefs in the game.
On his show 'Parts Unknown', he travelled the world to taste the best food that this
planet has to offer.
He would focus on the lesser-known restaurants or joints, and that's what made his show,
and really him as a person, so special.
So, let's take a look at the top ten episodes of 'Parts Unknown' according to the man himself.
Parts Unknown Season 1: Myanmar
Parts Unknown' kicked off as a series with a splash, wherein Bourdain visited Myanmar,
a country that was previously known as Burma.
Because of the overthrow of the government of Burma, Myanmar was closed to outsiders.
Because of that, Bourdain had to receive approval from the government of Myanmar; they slightly
relaxed their policies to allow Bourdain to visit and taste the best that Myanmar had
to offer.
Like with all episodes, Bourdain kept notes about his visit and from those notes it's
obvious as to why he selected the Myanmar episode as one of his favorite episodes.
The notes start out with him saying, "Holy S***!
Almost no one else has SEEN this!" and thanks to Bourdain that was no longer true because
millions people were able to actually see Myanmar for the first time in decades.
The rest of his notes delve into his thoughts on the trip and the food, as well as some
more personal musings.
Those notes highlight how deep and reflective he was, and why his shows were so special.
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Season 1: Libya
Bourdain listed Libya as one of his favorite locations to visit.
After the fall of their dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, Libya plunged into a depression and
civil war.
While Bourdain did visit after the fall of Gaddafi a lot of the negative aspects that
we know as today's Libya had yet to really sink in, but the uncertainty of what was to
come was still palpable upon his visit in May of 2013.
That uncertainty frames the episode as Bourdain travels around the country to sample the food
and culture, bringing him to listen to Libyan hip-hop, dining in Italian restaurants (which
are pretty good and also make a lot of sense considering Libya's proximity to Italy as
well as the friendship between Gaddafi and former prime minister of Italy, Sergio Berlusconi,
who famously attended some of Gaddafi's "Bunga Bunga" Parties) and more.
Bourdain also took time to learn about tribal allegiances, something that a lot of Westerners
should've done when redrawing maps of the region after World War I and II, and he learned
the history of the country through personal stories and food in a way that only he could.
That humanity will break your heart knowing what is going on in Libya today and also knowing
that with Bourdain gone, there's not a lot of people on television that can genuinely
bridge the gap between cultures and food across the planet.
Parts Unknown Season 1: Congo
In the final episode of his first season, Bourdain traveled to the location of his favorite
book in 'The Heart of Darkness'.
In that book, the narrator discusses a trip up the Congo River and the impact of imperialism
and racism on the people there, and at the end of the day how similar people are regardless
of whether or not they live in London or in the "uncivilized", quote-unquote, Congo.
This episode shows that food binds us all and that Bourdain was the best at what he
did, bridging that gap all over the world in places that otherwise would remain as foreign
concepts to the Western world, as opposed to real places filled with real people.
Parts Unknown Season 2: Jerusalem
Bourdain's visit to Jerusalem was also a visit to the Gaza strip and the West Bank, which
is a highly contested area of land that those in Palestine assert Israel stole from them.
As he did so masterfully, Bourdain attempted to make peace the one way he knew worked for
sure, and that was in sharing food with one another.
He delved into classic dishes and their rich history, as well as the culture of the Jews
and Muslims he visited.
He also spoke with local chefs and with a group he liked to spend time with on his show:
home cooks (something a lot of other travel, cooking, or travel cooking shows never really
had done).
It's safe to say that if Bourdain couldn't bring the two sides together with his amazing
personality and food, then perhaps no one ever will.
Season 2: Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Denmark, is one of the most beautiful capitals in the world, or really just one
of the most beautiful places in the world, period.
Because of that, Bourdain did a lot of exploring this episode and not a ton of eating, even
if Copenhagen is the cultural center of Denmark as well (and culture means food!).
Beyond exploring the natural beauty of Copenhagen and Denmark, Bourdain focused on chef Rene
Redzepi, who has a two Michelin star restaurant named Noma.
Noma was named the best restaurant in the world in 2010, 2011 and 2012 by Restaurant
magazine, which is amazing as it’s rare that a restaurant would stay on top year to
year.
The menu is pure Denmark as it has offerings on it like smoke eel, cured shrimp, pickled
herring, reindeer moss, quail egg and much more.
While a lot of that sounds outright disgusting, clearly it's something that tastes delicious
and is presented well as Restaurant magazine doesn't screw around.
Either that or the person who decided the best restaurant in the world back during those
years was a gigantic sadist.
It's a toss up and we'll never really know.
Parts Unknown Season 2: Tokyo
Tokyo is the busiest place on the planet in terms of people per square mile and it's also
home to some of the most eclectic people on the planet.
Despite its reputation as a society of conformity, Tokyo, and Japan in general, has a lot of
unique subcultures and television shows.
Bourdain had been to Japan a few times on his show and this time he wanted to delve
into some of those subcultures, or the seedy underbelly of Tokyo itself, something that
CNN explained as Bourdain attempting to visit the "dark, extreme and bizarrely fetishistic
underside" of Tokyo.
It appears that he got his wish as he was able to meet with a whole group of strange
Tokyoites and taste their food.
Considering that Bourdain was also a non-conformist and was dating one, Asia Argento, it's not
hard to see why this episode made it so high on his list of favorites.
Season 3: Punjab
Punjab is a northern state in India that forms the larger Punjab region and is bordered by
Kashmir as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab, because that's not confusing.
A relatively small area compared to the rest of India, Punjab only covers 1.53% of India's
total geographical area.
The region has amazing food which is why Bourdain opened season three there, from the city of
Amritsar to the gurpurab festival.
Because the state of Punjab is always changing thanks to the on-again-off-again hostilities
in the region, the version of Punjab that Bourdain visited may not be the same Punjab
that exists as of this video.
The gurpurab festival is celebrated by the Sikh, who are an ethnic and religious minority
there.
That has historically lead to some issues, and if there's one constant with oppressed
groups around the world, it's that they maintain an amazing culture that survives regardless
of what happens to the people themselves.
Food is a large aspect of one's religious and ethnic culture and so it's pretty neat
to see Bourdain learn more about the culture and food of the Sikhs.
He also visited the Chapslee Estate, which is a free community vegetarian restaurant,
something that is extremely normal in India (as they don't typically eat beef).
Parts Unknown Season 3: Lyon
While Bourdain is known as a chef, obviously, his show wasn't completely about food.
While episodes always contained some sort of food and/or eating, there was always some
history or exploring involved in each episode as well.
The Lyon episode was different in that it was mainly about food, perhaps the greatest
food in the world (depending on who you ask), as Bourdain met up with world-famous restaurant
entrepreneur Daniel Boulud and traveled to the "mecca of food" in Lyon, France.
That's actually the hometown of Chef Boulud, and they traveled there to meet with another
famous chef, Paul Bocuse, who is known as a "nouvelle” innovator.
Nouvelle cuisine is a style of cooking that is relatively modern and that avoids rich,
heavy food and instead emphasizes the freshness of ingredients and the presentation of dishes.
You could tell how happy these meals made Bourdain and it's really heart warming to
see him enjoying himself.
It also really makes you want to find a restaurant that focuses on nouvelle cuisine (or a cookbook
online that you could use to make some meals yourself).
Season 4: Shanghai
One of the places that was relatively unknown to the average joe up until the 1970's (with
then President Richard Nixon's famous visit) was China.
Now, with the reforms they've made to their communist policies, China is not only an open
place for people in the West to visit but also the fastest growing economy in the world
(that is set to overtake the United States in about thirty years).
Bourdain visited Shanghai and took note of the booming economy while also exploring parts
of Chinese culture and history and how it still resonated in modern China.
Any fans of Bourdain knew that he'd be a lot happier eating some street grub than five-star
food in a stuffy restaurant and the Shanghai episode is a great example of that and probably
why Bourdain selected it as his second favorite episode, since most of the episode is about
his experience with that street food.
Parts Unknown Season 4: Iran
As this list has shown, Anthony Bourdain loved to go to areas of the world that are restricted,
meaning that they're hard to travel to and thus, for the most part, parts unknown.
Iran was a former "democracy" that was overthrown by far-right religious fundamentalists in
the 1970's (long story).
Because of that and especially after former President George W. Bush named Iran as part
of the "Axis of Evil", it’s a difficult place for Americans to visit.
If you want any proof that it's still a bad idea to visit Iran, two employees of CNN that
were there as part of filming 'Parts Unknown' were detained and released by the Iranian
government while there.
Bourdain feared very little and showed that in the episode as he attempted to expose what
it was like to live under an oppressive regime like Iran's government.
He stopped and ate at a few homes in the capital of Iran, which is Tehran.
He also showed what the night life is like in Iran.
It's surprising to hear that Iran even has a nightlife but it's been said that outside
of the hardline leaders, a lot of people in Iran are actually quite liberal and that's
something that is encouraging and sad at the same time as they basically don't agree with
what their government is doing but have no choice but to sit around and abide...
And in this case, some of them also cook amazing classic Iranian dishes.
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