Spirit of Anthony Bourdain lives on in food and travel series
These TV programmes aim to bring the world closer by exploring the cuisines and cultures of different countries
Anthony Bourdain is sadly gone, but the food/travel genre he revolutionised continues to flourish.
Four shows offer new episodes in early July, including Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern; Netflix’s Somebody Feed Phil; PBS newcomer No Passport Required and Viceland’s F---, That’s Delicious; which chronicles rapper/author Action Bronson’s culinary adventures in the New York area.
“I don’t think my show would exist without [Bourdain, who committed suicide on June 8]. He reinvented the genre. I pitched [my] show with one line: ‘I’m exactly like Anthony Bourdain, if he was afraid of everything’,” says Phil Rosenthal, the Everybody Loves Raymond creator who dedicated his inaugural Netflix season to Bourdain.
Rosenthal takes the Everyman tourist approach, substituting comedic skill for a lack of culinary expertise. He wants viewers to travel vicariously with him to Argentina, South Africa, Ireland, Denmark, Italy and New York (where his engaging and funny parents chat with renowned chef Daniel Boulud over a bowl of Rosenthal’s mom’s matzo ball soup).
The new episodes feature scenes of Rosenthal herding cattle with Argentinian gauchos and – even scarier – taking a tango lesson: The teacher “was lucky to get out with both her feet intact”.
“This is a show about human connection disguised as a food/travel show with humour. Hopefully humour,” he says. “That’s my way to hook you, so that you’ll be just a little bit braver, go a little out of your comfort zone,”
Chef Marcus Samuelsson, who appeared on his pal Bourdain’s show, says the Parts Unknown host inspired No Passport, in which Samuelsson explores the cuisine and culture of immigrant groups in the US, including Detroit’s Middle Eastern population in the July 10 opener.
