Did you know Anthony Bourdain also wrote novels?
You of course know Anthony Bourdain from his TV shows, in which he traveled all over the world while eating, smoking and drinking. And he became famous through writing. Not just memoirs and cookbooks, either: Bourdain also wrote novels.
Bourdain was discovered after writing Kitchen Confidential, his behind-the-scenes story about restaurant life in New York. A few more books in that genre followed and—how could it be otherwise—a number of cookbooks. You probably wouldn’t have thought of novels as part of that list, would you?
Gone Bamboo
Before my trip through Asia, I blindly put all his books on my e-reader. Because how wonderful it is to read his anecdotes from the kitchen, New York and the rest of his life. On a white beach, I started reading Gone Bamboo and was completely astonished. Had I picked the right book? Where was Tony’s ironic, sharp voice? Instead, I got Henry and Frances in their hotel room on the Caribbean islands. Huh?
Suddenly, my idol was also a novelist. What am I saying: he wrote a hilarious yet blood-chilling thriller in which a couple of hitmen are obstructed by another criminal. This wasn’t what I was used to from Anthony, but apparently his sharp pen works in every genre. I was hooked from the very first moment and finished the book within a day. Who knew?
Thrillers
Before he was discovered as a culinary god, he had already published two thrillers. Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo are both crime novels. In the first, the protagonist is still a chef—Bourdain also wrote the book while he was still cooking himself—but the second book is not about food at all. It was only in his third book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, that food took center stage. And that is exactly the book that made him famous.
Because of Kitchen Confidential, he was offered his first TV show: A Cook’s Tour. Soon afterward, we could admire him in No Reservations, the program most people will know him from. In Parts Unknown, Bourdain continued to travel and eat, but the focus was also often on political or cultural topics. He made this program until his death last year. Fortunately, there are still plenty of books to dive into, so you’ll never forget him.
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