In the Weeds: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain

by Tom Vitale

Real life doesn’t offer clear beginings, of course. At least, we rarely recognize them as such at the time. But looking back, our trip to Burma seems like as good a place to start this story as any other.

A NATURAL-BORN EXAGGERATOR WITH A superb taste for the absurd, Tony was the ultimate storyteller. Tony’s way of looking at the world, his ability to transform the bland everyday into a fantastic reinterpretation of reality, only seemed to add more meaning and truth to the original event.

Tony advised to “watch movies, read everything you can. Be inspired by what others have done and learn from their mistakes. Stealing is fine as long as you can reasonably suggest it was just ‘borrowing’ in court.”

He challenged the editors, camera people, directors, and producers to come up with crazy shit, to innovate, and he fiercely guarded our freedom to try new stuff and to have fun while doing so. The point wasn’t to be sensational, it was to innovate by fucking with the format.

This episode had the potential to do what Tony had always aimed for and I was proudest of: challenge stereotypes while resisting the othering of people we met by treating them with dignity, respect, and approaching a complex situation with an open mind.

IN THIS WORLD OF EVER more rules and regulations, Tony was a rebel who constantly dared to say fuck it.

Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind. Unfortunately, the footage was unusable because of an unrelenting dog barking in the background, but I transcribed what Tony said, repurposing it as a line of voice-over for the end of the episode, and it became my favorite quote about travel.