Hello Friends,
It was nice to feel a little touch of Fall weather finally this weekend including a spot of rain. It was Tino’s first encounter with the wet stuff and the curious excitement it brought out in him was a joyful experience for me as I watched his sweet reaction, face up looking to the heavens, wondering where these little drops were coming from?
I also finally had a chance to watch ‘Tony’…the movie about Anthony Bourdain’s early life prior to the launch of his career as a Chef. I didn’t like it at all. I don’t understand what the purpose behind it making it was unless it was to show what a bit of a loser he was prior to finding his calling as a Chef and later a travel write. But it did inspire me to write a little something about how he viewed travel and why he has been one of my all-time celebrity chef favorites from the time I read Kitchen Confidential.
He was one of a kind: world-famous author, TV personality, and chef who opened the world of food to millions through his brilliant storytelling. In addition his global travels, he often went to the Culinary Institute of America’s campus to speak with students about food, world cultures, his career and the importance of authenticity in being a chef.
He didn’t build a career convincing people to relax. He spent decades in unfamiliar kitchens, unfamiliar cities, unfamiliar languages, treating discomfort as the entry fee for understanding anything real. Most people treat travel as a reward earned after enough work and grinding, something you deserve once the work is done. He rejected that entirely. Travel was not a break from life, it was the education that made a life worth building in the first place.
The map was never the reward…it was the syllabus. In other words, a map is just a tool, a guide, or a plan. Reaching the end of the map isn’t the true prize. If you only focus on the destination, you miss the actual value of the experience.
A syllabus is a guide for a course of study. It tells you what you are going to learn, what challenges you will face, and how you will grow. He famously said “Travel is not a reward for working. It’s education for living.” It is meant to challenge your assumptions rather than just offer an escape. He believed that sharing food and sitting down at local tables breaks down barriers. When visiting other cultures, he always urged travelers to be polite, say yes to local customs and avoid asking for familiar comforts like hamburgers or club sandwiches. He championed leaving the tourist stuff behind, opting rather for crowded markets, plastic stools, and listening to ordinary people’s stories rather than seeking polished, commercialized experiences.
Now I know not everyone will be able to adopt Anthony’s approach to travel, certainly I couldn’t, and people travel and vacation for different reasons, but even if you try and squeeze some of what he believed into your itinerary, I think you’ll find that it can really enrich your experiences.
Travel well and safely…
Ciao
David & Tino
