I pretty much fell in love with Anthony Bourdain the very first time I saw him. My big fat gay TV crush.
I don’t really remember where he was in that first episode of No Reservations. But I remember I wanted to be him. I wanted to travel. I wanted to be a writer. I also wanted to be cool and witty and unpredictable.
I taught lessons in coffee places. I took the red line for work. I watched Netflix every night. I was boring.
He, on the other hand, was interesting. Alive. Bohemian. On the road. How not to love this genuinely amazing guy?
Then imagine my surprise some years later when I read this looooong (and well written) article on him in the New Yorker. I couldn’t believe what I read.
Anthony’s road to fame started when he wrote a short piece for the New Yorker, almost by accident, in 1997. That article, somehow, lead to his first book Kitchen Confidential in 2000. He became known for his honest, raw, behind the scenes writing. Then someone offered him the opportunity to do some TV. His first TV program called “A cook’s tour”. He would be a cool experienced sounding traveler going around the world.
My mouth dropped when I learned that Anthony, MY Anthony, had basically no experience as a traveler at the time. He was 44 when he started filming “A cook’s tour” and all his travel experience was a couple of trips to France as a child and very little more. I had already been to 30 countries and I was only 39. What was wrong with this picture? Had I fallen in love with a fraud?
I was super curious to watch “A cook’s tour”. I watched one episode of Antonhy Bourdain in Thailand. A country where I spent 45 days as a backpacker. The first thing that strikes you is how young and lost Anthony looks. So out of place and nervous. And how hard he tries to look cool and tough and adventurous. I particularly remember when he is in an elevator of his fancy hotel in Bangkok and he explains how he will not eat at the hotel but somewhere else because he is adventurous and cool. His words say one thing and his body language says let’s stay put and order some pizza. You feel kind of sorry for him.
So was Anthony Bourdain just a phony made up TV invention?
Heck no.
He was able to write some great books without being a writer. He managed to be one of the most famous chefs in the world without even being that great of a chef (according to the critics). And he managed to become a genuine amazing witty adventurous traveler starting at age 44.
Anthony was great at making up a persona and then growing into it. Unfortunately that persona became so big, voracious and real that eventually ended up being too much for him to handle. But that is a different story.
One thing I share with him is how my teaching career started. I was terrified during my first weeks in front of a group of students. I was a guy with no experience trying to look and sound like a teacher. And you bet I looked nervous and silly at times. I made mistakes. I didn’t know what I was doing. But I kept going. And I created a persona. A shell. Then time and perseverance did the rest. Today I am a real teacher.
Students have to do the same. They have to start speaking the language in front of other people before they really can speak the language. They have to create a persona and make it grow and be real over time. Had I waited to be a great experienced teacher before being a teacher, I would have never taught. And if you wait for your Spanish to be amazing before you start speaking Spanish, you will never speak it.