ANTHONY BOURDAIN: ONE YEAR LATER

It is hard to believe that world traveler and famous chef Anthony Bourdain has been gone one year already. A year after his sad suicide, there are still many sad questions that never will be answered. However, since his death some remarkable stories have come out about Bourdain. Anthony Bourdain was a remarkable man who led an amazing life.

Evan Benn, the editor-and-chief of Miami Indulge, wrote on Twitter that he was covering an Anthony Bourdain book stop when a boy in the audience, who had leukemia, asked Bourdain where he should travel when he’s in remission.Bourdain told the boy that he should visit Spain. But then, Benn says that Bourdain reached out to him privately, wanting to arrange for that boy in the audience to get a trip to Spain. With the help of the Make-a-Wish Foundation, the boy did end up getting to go to Spain. But nobody knew until recently that Bourdain was involved; he took none of the credit for it.

Bourdain was a vocal supporter of the #MeToo movement, and he has evidently been fighting against sexual harassment in the workplace for years.Vera Papisova, a writer for Teen Vogue, shared on Twitter that she was once sexually harassed by a busboy while working at a restaurant. Although she was vocal about the issue, the managers finally took it seriously when Bourdain spoke up.

He wanted to make sure Harvey Weinstein paid for his actions. After Bourdain’s death, journalist Yashar Ali took to Twitter to honor him. Ali said that while many people moved on from the Harvey Weinstein story, Bourdain didn’t, and he continuously texted him with information.“He texted me repeatedly with ideas and every time a Weinstein survivor was attacked he would let me know because he was determined to stop Harvey’s machine,” Ali wrote. Ali also said that Bourdain was so incredibly proud of his girlfriend, Asia Argento, and would send him a clip of every one of her press appearances. Finally, on a personal note, Ali said that he went through a bout of depression earlier this year, but Bourdain was able to inspire him to keep going.

Back in 2017, Ali Allouche, a teenager who was being treated for bone cancer, decided he wanted to travel the country and eat the best foods in every state. Bourdain had inspired him to do so. When Bourdain himself found out about Allouche’s story, he donated $3,600 to his trip, the amount of money needed to reach his goal, according to Now This News. Bourdain himself also told The New York Post at the time that he was “incredibly moved and humbled” to hear about the story and that “I hope as well to meet with the young man at the earliest opportunity.”

Comic artist Shivana Sookdeo says that she bumped into Bourdain at a food festival, and it sounds like he was incredibly approachable. Rather than saying hello, he said, “hey kid, you hungry?”

“He spent the ten minutes listening to me talk about the home country of my parents, Trinidad & Tobago, with the utmost engagement,” she wrote. “Like an ambassador studying up, ready to go.”

She says that at the end of the conversation, Bourdain “thanked me for my time like he’d had an appointment with me all along.” I really wish we would have the opportunity to thank Anthony Bourdain for his time just one more time...