STAY HUNGRY美食逍遙遊

Anthony Bourdain reminded us how travel can be a humbling, exciting and transformative experience. By TIM PRITCHARD

SINCE ANTHONY BOURDAIN’S

death earlier this year, I’ve been bingeing on all things Bourdain: interviews, articles (check out his 1999 piece for The New Yorker, Don’t Eat Before Reading This), his books. And, of course, his travel shows.

Onboard this month, we have the first four episodes of the 11th and final season of Parts Unknown, which won six Emmys in September. Much has been written about Bourdain’s impact on the culinary world, but it’s also worth celebrating his influence on travel. The challenge for all travel media – this magazine included – is to convey the essence of a place accurately and engagingly, and he achieved that with aplomb.

For the chef turned TV host, food was always his entry point into the local culture. Through talking with locals, cooks, guides and insiders, he quickly lasered in on the personalities and stories of places as vast and diverse as Tokyo, Ethiopia, Armenia, Rio de Janeiro and Hanoi.

In the opening episode of Season 11, the 61-year- old travels to the boom-bust Appalachian coal mining towns of the US state of West Virginia. This is staunchly conservative Trump country, he notes, but the unabashedly liberal New Yorker happily rubs shoulders with the locals, taking an empathetic look at the daily life and humanity of an area where times are tough and community values run deep.

In other episodes, Bourdain travels to laid-back Uruguay, where he gorges on meat (he describes chivito, the pork-filled national sandwich, as a ‘terror-inspiring heap of protein’); visits rocky, grey Newfoundland, Canada, where he goes fishing and moose stalking with chef friends; and tours Armenia, dining with System of a Down singer Serj Tankian, trying to unpack the complex social history of the former Soviet republic and savour its rich cuisine.

Stay tuned for later episodes, which will be added onboard in the coming months. They include Bourdain’s trip to Hong Kong, where he slurps bowls of wonton noodles, does dai pai dong dining and visits Tai O’s stilt village.

自從 Anthony Bourdain 於今年早前逝世後，我孜孜不倦地重溫許多跟他有關的東西，例如訪問、文章（他於1999 年為《The New Yorker》雜 誌 撰 寫 的〈Don’t Eat Before Reading This〉相當精采）及著作等。當然還有他的旅遊節目。

本月機上播放 Bourdain 主持的旅遊飲食 節目《Parts Unknown》第 11 季也是最後一季的首四集。本節目於 9月時贏得六項艾美獎。很多人都寫過關於Bourdain對烹飪界的影響，但是他在旅遊方面的影響亦值得留意。對於所有旅遊媒體（括本刊在內）來說，最重要的是將一個地方的精采之處以準確和吸引的方式介紹給讀者或觀眾，而他卻不費吹灰之力就做到了。

Bourdain由大廚轉任電視節目主持，自然以食物作為了解當地文化的切入點。他跟當地居民、廚師、導遊及精通當地情況的人打交道，很快就能捕捉到一個地方的特色與現況；而他的節目所到之處，括東京、埃塞俄比亞、亞美尼亞、里約熱內盧及河內等，無論地理或文化都相距甚遠。

在本季的首集中，這位61歲的大廚前往美國西維珍尼亞州 Appalachia 區多個經濟不穩定的煤礦城鎮去。他指出這是個非常保守的地區，生活艱難，社區持守的價值根深柢固，居民都是特朗普的忠實支持者；不過那些毫不掩飾自由主義傾向的紐約客卻愉快地與當地人混在一起，以同理心來了解當地的生活與人文狀況。

在另外的幾集裡， Bourdain 前往生活節奏悠閒的烏拉圭去，在那裡大啖肉類（他形容當地塞滿豬肉的 chivito 三文治為「一堆引發恐懼的蛋白質」）；又前往加拿大以灰色山巒風景馳名的紐芬蘭省，在那裡與多位大廚好友釣魚和追蹤麋鹿；以及前往亞美尼亞，與重金屬樂隊 System of a Down 的主音 Serj Tankian 共晉晚餐，一面品嚐這個前蘇聯共和國的豐富美食，一面探討當地複雜的社會歷史。

未來數月機上將會陸續播映本季其他集數，其中括 Bourdain 的香港之旅，可以看見他大啖雲吞麵、到大排檔一嚐小菜風味及遊覽大澳的棚屋村，敬請留意。