Celebrity Chef Anthony Bourdain Is No More, Passes Away Aged 61 in France

Food author and television personality Anthony Bourdain hangs himself to death in a hotel in France.

There are only a handful of places in the world that might have been missed out by CNN’s celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain travelled the world, becoming familiar with the various cultures, people and indigenous foods available everywhere. From eating sheep testicles in Morocco, to tasting a seal’s eyeball with Inuit people; from tasting ant eggs in Mexico to eating a whole cobra in Vietnam, Bourdain traversed the length and breadth of gastronomic experience! The travel documentarian heartily experienced international cultures through his taste buds. Sadly, he hung himself in Le Chambard Hotel in Kaysersberg, France, on June 8, leaving his fans and loved ones in utter shock and grief.

Bourdain was one of the world’s most influential chefs. He became a public figure after writing the best selling book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly in the year 2000, which was inspired from his 1999 article forThe New Yorker“Don’t Eat Before Reading This”. His popularity amplified when he appeared in the TV programme A Cook’s Tour for 35 consecutive episodes in 2002 and 2003. The international cook became a household name for casually and frankly talking about his taste experiences on television shows like Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, The Layover and his most recent show, CNN’s Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, for which he was honoured with a Peabody Award. Bourdain received the Emmy Award multiple times and was nominated for dozens of other awards for his spectacular contributions to television. In his last few years, his alma mater conferred on him a doctorate.

Bourdain’s passion towards the culinary arts developed at a young age while he was working at seafood restaurants in Massachusetts. He later joined The Culinary Institute of America to undergo a formal education in cooking. The celebrated food writer not only wrote books and articles on gastronomy but also a few fictional works called Bone in the Throat, Gone Bamboo, Bobby Gold and the Get Jiro series.

People across the world rememberBourdain fondly. Former President Barack Obama, who shared a meal with Bourdain in Vietnam in 2016, tweeted, “He taught us about food — but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We’ll miss him. “Chefs from kitchens all around the globe are filled with dismay over this loss, with Chef Gordon Ramsay remembering his time with Bourdain, “(He)brought the world into our homes and inspired so many people to explore cultures and cities through their food.” Bourdain may have left for his heavenly abode, but the aroma left behind by his recipes, books and shows will linger on for a long time.