Celebrity chef Bourdain found dead in France
PARIS — Anthony Bourdain, the celebrity chef and citizen of the world who inspired millions to share his delight in food and the bonds it created, was found dead in his hotel room Friday in France while working on his CNN series on culinary traditions. He was 61.
CNN confirmed the death, saying that Bourdain was found unresponsive Friday morning by friend and chef Eric Ripert in the French city of HautRhin. It called his death a suicide. Bourdain’s assistant Laurie Woolever would not comment when reached by The Associated Press.
Widely loved and rarely afraid to speak his mind, he mixed a coarseness and whimsical sense of adventurousness, true to the rock ‘n’ roll music he loved. Bourdain’s ourselves, first and “Parts Unknown” foremost, what is the most (messed) up thing we can seemed do next week?” he said in a like an odd 2014 interview with the AP. choice for Bourdain’s breakthrough CNN when as an author came it started in with the 2000 publication 2013 — part of his “Kitchen Confidential: travelogue, Adventures in the part history lesson, part Culinary Underbelly.” The love letter to exotic foods. book created a sensation Each trip was an adventure. by combining frank details There had been nothing of his life and career with quite like it on the staid behind-the-scenes observations news network, and it became on the culinary industry. an immediate hit.
Within hours of his Colleagues, friends and death, “Kitchen Confidential” admirers shared their was in the top 20 on grief Friday. CNN chief Amazon.com. executive Jeff Zucker sent
“We are constantly asking a company letter calling Bourdain “an exceptional talent. A storyteller. A gifted writer. A world traveler. An adventurer.”
As president, Barack Obama sat down for some bun cha in Hanoi, Vietnam, with Bourdain in an episode of “Parts Unknown” in 2016. On Friday, he shared a photo of the interaction on Twitter: “‘Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer.’ This is how I’ll remember Tony. 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.”