Not Fade Away

Not Fade Away

In the preface to Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain wrote this: "As for me, I have always liked to think of myself as the Chuck Wepner of cooking. Chuck was a journeyman 'contender', referred to as the 'Bayonne Bleeder' back in the Ali-Frazier era. He could always be counted on to last a few solid rounds without going down, giving as good as he got. I admired his resilience, his steadiness, his ability to get it together, to take a beating like a man."

Well, Chuck is still here, and Tony isn't, but you can tell that Tony knew he was in a fight for his life.

When I first heard of, and read the work of Anthony Bourdain, I'm afraid I wrote him off as a bit of a hot mess, writing stylishly about other hot messes. It's a thing I have less interest in, as I've gotten older. His propensity for seeking out the exotic was likewise not my style. But after awhile, I realized that there was more to him than that, perhaps well characterized in his recent visit to McDowell County in West Virginia, a place I have some acquaintance with.

It can be hard to fathom the logic of talented, successful folks heading early to the exit, but I think that Edward Morbius has a useful viewpoint: https://plus.google.com/104092656004159577193/posts/6aKirKHuS41

I was also struck by the location of Bourdain's exit: Strasbourg. Strasbourg was home to Nicolas Freeling, one of my favorite authors, and no stranger to The Kitchen:

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/nicolas-freeling-8/the-kitchen/

If you don't know about Freeling, you're missing out.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jul/22/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries
https://maddogmedia.com/2018/06/08/r-i-p-anthony-bourdain/

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