On what would have been his 63rd birthday, people across the food world and beyond are coming together to remember author and TV host Anthony Bourdain’s life on Bourdain Day, created in memory of the late chef by his friends, chefs Eric Ripert and José Andrés.
So far, people like CNN host Christiane Amanpour, Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi, Washington Post writer Tim Carman, The Wire producer David Simon, chefs Daniel Boulud and Dominique Ansel, chef Ludo Lefebvre’s tween daughter, Rêve, and even Waffle House, which Bourdain visited in an episode of his show Parts Unknown,are sharing tributes. Much of it is, unsurprisingly, tinged with sadness and a sense of great and intense loss, but there’s also a sense of hope — that if we all learn to live as Bourdain did, we’ll be honoring him as well as ourselves. Read the tributes below and check back for further posts as they continue to roll in throughout the day.
Bourdain was a fucking national treasure. A tour de force. A bit stubborn — a bit rough. Something I can really get behind. He was loving and compassionate. He was one of the most empathetic creative persons I’ve ever followed. He was too good for us. While he left us too soon, we’re a better planet, having known his words, his myths, his loves and his thoughts.
After Bourdain and President Obama sat down at Bun Cha Huong Lien for an episode of Parts Unknown, the restaurant owners permanently enshrined the table in plexiglass:
When Bourdain was alive, the glass-case immortalizes both men. The vacant table was an amazing monument to a beautiful moment (if you’ve never seen the scene, watch and read about it here). Now, with Bourdain departed, it takes on a different meaning. He will forever be missed.
