Being Bourdain (#AnthonyBourdain #travel #food)

The apparent suicide of Anthony Bourdain brought mixed emotions from me. On the one hand, I deny the existence of death. I believe in modern quantum physics, which teaches us that everything us energy, including ourselves. Energy is neither created nor is it destroyed--energy is eternal. Thus we are eternal. Therefore: no death. There is transformation, and Bourdain chose to undergo that transformation earlier rather than later. While I honor his choice, I don't understand it, but it's not given to me to understand someone I never met. Despite his fame, Bourdain's persona is what we know, not the real man. 

On the other hand, we'll miss this funny, clever, seemingly fearless man who lived a life most of us can only dream of: visiting faraway place and exploring their cultures, especially their food cultures.

I've been lucky enough to emulate Bourdain in some respects. I've visited over a dozen countries and eaten in all of them. I've eaten Indian food in Rome (very good); Chinese in Venice (also excellent). The main international airport in Bangkok has really good spag bol--whodda thunk it?

 Here are a few pix of memorable foods from overseas:

A typical Cuban meal--beans and rice, plus a protein. Here, it's a fried egg. 

Surprisingly, Cuban food is quite bland. One thinks of the spiciness of Jamaican and Mexican food, and figure that due to proximity, Cuban food must also be spicy. Not. I had to use a lot of salt to make this interesting.

Eaten more than once in the Angkor complex, Cambodia. 

Chicken curry served in a coconut. SUBLIME.

This place serves the best fish and chips in Oxford.

Some places were not so welcoming... 

I spent a miserable year in  Luoyang, China.

I  plan not to mourn Anthony Bourdain's life not by weeping, but to do what I love best: traveling someplace new and eating the tastiest food I can find.