Not for Nothing

I have been slowly making my way through Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, which I recently started watching on Netflix. I became a fan of Bourdain’s unflinching and sardonic style on his Travel Channel program The Layover. Where The Layover highlights the great eateries in specific cities, Parts Unknown uses food as the lens through which Bourdain examines the major socio-political, cultural, or economic issues inherent to that region. Part travelogue, part cooking program the CNN produced Parts Unknown eschews the many well-trod locations for lesser known, and arguably, more interesting places like Quebec, Detroit, and Sicily.

There is something alluring about how Bourdain approaches talking about food. He’s clearly a fan of food and how it’s prepared beyond just a professional interest and so are many of the people we meet through the program. Bourdain wants us to see more than just the typical tourist experience, he wants us to eat where the locals eat, to show us that it’s safe to step off the beaten path or dip your spoon into strange bubbling cauldrons. Yet, we only spend about a third of the program watching food being prepared or eaten. When we do see food, it often serves as a launching point to a larger discussion about local issues that directly affect the cook or the other diners at the table. These conversations are like so many conversations we have at our own dinner tables; fraught with concerns over family, life, and the topics of the day. 

My favorite scene comes in the fourth season of the program when Bourdain is in Shanghai having dinner with some of China’s nouveau-riche. The meal is held in the host’s massive wine cellar and is a menagerie of excess: fresh Antarctic Shrimp, Australian beef, wines from every region of the world, all prepared and served to white glove perfection. At one point in the scene, a guest mentions that there are many Chinese restaurants in New York, Bourdain’s hometown. The host asks Bourdain if he would do a New York accent. Bourdain hems and haws before spitting out, “not for nothing,” which he repeats several times before the host fully understands. Now, the phrase is a colloquialism used in the Northeast, and in New York, to soften the blow from unwelcome or difficult advice. It’s not clear how off the cuff the comment was or if the selection was a calculated choice made in the moment, but the effect in context is amazing. The exact words, in conjunction with the excess on display, are in and of themselves a comment, a statement that this meal has a price beyond the money that the host paid for it, a bill that has yet to be paid. It is a moment made all the more poignant due to the most recent economic collapse that is only starting to unfold in China.

Now I will be the first to say that I have a tendency to read too deeply into things. I often am left spinning on imagined intentions of friends and family that I have to ask my wife to help me clarify. It’s a habit that occasionally leaves me avoiding people until I can find clarity about what happened or at least forget why I am being weird. Maybe it’s also a little bit of Monday morning Quarterbacking.  Maybe it’s a bit of clever editing made by a producer in post.  Yet, from what I have seen of this show, the depth of coverage in other parts of the world like Israel, South Africa, Toyko, or Mexico City, this does not feel like coincidence. It feels like a conscious choice made by a sharp storyteller masquerading as a food critic. 

Anthony Borudain: Parts Unknown sixth season can be seen on CNN on Sunday’s at 9 PM.