By Ronald N. Guy Jr.
The Capitals won the Stanley Cup on June 8, 2018. I
had waited for the moment for my entire life; being a long-suffering D.C.
sports fan, it appropriately triggered a sports-based euphoria I had not
experienced since the Maryland men’s basketball team won the national
championship in 2002.
After a night of sweet dreams, I woke to this text
from my daughter: “Dad, Anthony Bourdain died.”
It would be an embellishment to say I consider
Bourdain a hero - a term used far too casually.
I’m 45 years old, and like most of at least my vintage, I don’t impress
easily anymore. I’ve been disappointed
by enough people, particular those occupying positions of power or of some
famous persuasion, to apply a hero label to another human being only with great
caution.
Bourdain was, and remains, however, a person of great
significance in my life. I’ve watched
all of his shows – “A Cook’s Tour”, “No Reservations” and “Parts Unknown” – over
the years and read his career-launching book “Kitchen Confidential”. Wherever his work appeared and in whatever
form, I consumed it.
My Bourdain affinity started simply because I love
food and he consistently found the new, the bizarre, the simple and the exotic
and presented it in a reckless, a devil-may-care, I-can’t-get-enough-of-this
way. But food became only part of
Bourdain’s attraction. The mysterious
places, the cultures, politics and what it all said about us – humanity –
became as much of the story as the food itself.
Ultimately, though, it was the host - Bourdain himself
– that kept me coming back show after show, year after year. He looked comfortable in any setting, in any
culture and with people from all walks of life.
He could dine at a table adorned with fine linens and the best china, eat
noodles street-side while sitting in a plastic chair or devour freshly
harvested game while sitting on a log near an open fire. As a person whose counts among his greatest
food experiences eating rockfish fresh off of a charcoal grill or devouring famous
orange crustaceans dumped from a garage steamer pot and dosed with Old Bay,
Bourdain’s style resonated.
Bourdain was able to connect with so many different
people around the globe because he never judged a way of life or preached the
virtues of his. A man of many flaws,
ones he expressed with great transparency, Bourdain was never arrogant or
condescending to his hosts. He led with
his curiosity and expressed genuine appreciation and respect for wherever he
was, for whomever he was with and for whatever he was eating. It was never about what a destination and its
people lacked; it was always about opening your mind, learning and appreciating
the culinary and cultural creations of the people in some far off land. That the land was unfamiliar, the language
often different and the environment sometimes unimaginable just added to the
charm and the seek-to-understand challenge Bourdain was issuing to his
audience.
Whether it was bull fighting, soccer in Marseille,
France, baseball in Cuba or Japan or his own love of Jiu-Jitsu, sports were occasionally
weaved into Bourdain’s plot. But his
show was always about sports – at least for viewers seeking a connection. The lasting and indisputable lesson from
Bourdain’s globetrotting was this: Despite differences in geography, ethnicity,
culture or political ideology, humans are far more alike than different…and
bridging divides to our common humanity takes little more than an inquisitive,
fearless and respectful catalyst.
Through the lens of sports, Bourdain’s work and this
message was a discreet wink and a nod to locker room leaders, coaches and
General Managers about how to mesh a collection of humans from all around the
country or the world into a cohesive unit.
Through the lens of life, he left a formula for how bring the diverse members
of our teams – our families, colleagues, communities and country – a little
closer. Whether we achieve any of it is on
us. But while Bourdain’s gone, we will
be buoyed by the demystifying seeds of curiosity, decency and understanding
that he spread globally as he “took a walk through this beautiful world”.
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