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

by Tom Vitale

Then in 2011 something unheard-of happened. Long-ruling military general Than Shwe stepped down, and the junta, fearing an Arab Spring–style revolution, gave the country back to the people.

“… I mean… generally speaking we’ve been to a lot of places where people aren’t happy to see cameras… whereas just about everybody here has been really, for lack of a better word, open and friendly. Which is really weird considering just last year and to some extent still, they’re living in a place where for fifty years all that most people remember is an incredibly oppressive government. It’s really extraordinary.”

“What happens to the people that we leave behind?”

One of the best things about the show, if not the best thing about the show, was how Tony used his platform for good. From Mexican cooks to Palestinian shop owners, Tony championed the marginalized and gave a voice to the voiceless, stuck up for the little guy.

it puts you in the awkward position of witnessing human suffering as a goal. After asking to photograph someone in desperate conditions, I returned to a nice hotel, while they did not.

It was easier not to think too hard about how our new friends would be staying behind in their country and continue fighting just to survive.

“Rule one? Show, don’t tell! It’s intro to storytelling, for fuck’s sake!”

“What do we include, what do we choose to leave out? Either way it’s our choice. It’s about the moral quandary of travel and white privilege. The camera is a liar. Drawing attention to it calls into question our own reliability and shows our hands aren’t clean. I want to show how manipulative even ‘honest, tell it like it is’ TV can be.”

Always pushing forward, doing the hard thing, even the stupid thing, as long as it was the different thing. Tony was a big believer in failing gloriously in an attempt to do something interesting, rather than succeeding at being mediocre.

“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.”

The point wasn’t to be sensational, it was to innovate by fucking with the format.

But our line of work had taught us there was a difference between people and their government. Iran was a once-in-a-lifetime sort of trip.

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.

“All good stories end on a beach. Why should this one be any different?”

“It’s nice once in a lifetime to see the good guys win. Respect. Anthony Bourdain,”

Anthony Bourdain was a great man, even though he could, at times, be a less successful human being.

“You know, that’s the same age Jesus was when he died and look at all he accomplished,” Tony said, not missing a beat. “So, why the hell are we filming an ‘observation deck scene’?”

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.

Tony’s words as well as the episode’s theme had been inspired by the Bejalai, an Iban philosophy about taking a journey of self-discovery. An indigenous group native to the vast jungles of Borneo, the Iban considered the Bejalai central to their culture. The general idea is you go on an adventure, and learn something about the world. When all is said and done, hopefully you’re better for what you’ve seen, and you share the knowledge you’ve acquired with your home village. The Iban then commemorate the experience with a hand-tapped tattoo, à la “travel leaves marks.” It was literally a perfect theme for an episode of TV about travel.