“Anh” Tony- an ode to Anthony Bourdain
Presented by In The Weeds
By Mimi Lan
Many of us haven’t been fortunate enough to actually come in contact with Mr. Anthony Bourdain, but feel connected to him because some of the things he said or did resonated with us. For me, as a chef and immigrant, Anthony played a big role in bringing Vietnamese food on the map and increased my pride in my homeland, food, and culture. When I decided to be a chef and was unsure of what kind of food I wanted to be known for, Bourdain’s love affair for Vietnamese food may have helped me find my signature cuisine: Vietnamese with global influences.
Prior to Bourdain professing his trip to Vietnam as “one of (his) favorite places on earth”, and boldly claimed our food as “equal in sophistication and complexity to European cuisines,” Vietnamese cuisine was still unknown to a lot of people. Bourdain didn’t just feature common Vietnamese dishes such as phở or bánh mì, but introduced lesser-known regional Vietnamese dishes to the world. Dishes like bún bò Huế, a beef & pork-hock noodle soup cooked with lemongrass, which I love more than phở. Bánh Bèo & Bánh Bột Lọc, both are iconic central Vietnamese dainty, small dishes of rice flour cake and clear chewy dumplings, respectively, both with shrimp and nuoc cham dipping sauce- out of the world delicious. And who can forget the image of Bourdain and President Obama sitting on low plastic stools enjoying cold beers and bún chả Hà Nội, a charcoal-grilled pork vermicelli dish that instantly gave notoriety to both the dish and the eatery in Hà Nội?
After thousands of years of colonialism and war, we Vietnamese can easily spot foreigners who may come to Vietnam with less than genuine intentions. So it says a lot when native Vietnamese nicknamed #anthonybourdain Anh Tony, literally means “big brother Tony”, as well as our #culturalhero.
Anthony taught us so many lessons about anthropology and what it means to travel in the 21st century- true exploration with an open mind and heart. He was the first TV host to dare bring controversial issues into food, not for sensationalism but more for the reason of being an authentic storyteller, who gave us his unfiltered, un-sugarcoated truths, even if it meant exposing discrimination, oppression, and injustices.
We Vietnamese all over the world owe a lot to Mr. Bourdain. His love for our people and food was apparent in his many TV shows and recently, is well documented in the film about his life, RoadRunner. Vietnam has been consistently ranking as the top-five world destination, and I’d like to think that Mr. Bourdain may have played a role in that when he famously claimed that his first trip to Vietnam “changed (his) life”, “a delicious one that sort of sucked me in and never let go.”
How can you thank someone for having done so much for all of us, except to honor him by following his footsteps of being true to who we are, tolerant to others who may be different than us, and open-minded to new tastes and adventures?
In The Weeds is a National 501c3 public charity that Champions the Physical, Financial + Mental Health of the Hospitality Professional. It is the vision of In The Weeds to create a safe, inclusionary + sustainable hospitality industry for the people who power it.
Woman pointing to camera in chefs coat
I’m a chef who curates thoughtful dining experiences with story-telling to share my culture and connect with people.
My food, VIGLO (Vietnamese with global influences), is about innovation in cooking while honoring traditional recipes of the past.
Opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Best Served. To achieve our mission of bringing more voices to the table, we are committed to sharing a variety of viewpoints across the industry.
