Anthony Bourdain didn't say that (but we wish he did) [View all]

Anthony Bourdain didn't say that (but we wish he did)
Get the cream sauce. Have a pint at 4. The internet’s favorite Bourdain quote isn’t real — but feels almost true

By Ashlie D. Stevens
Senior Food Editor
Published June 20, 2025 12:00PM (EDT)


(Salon) If you’re paying attention, you’ll start to notice them — little altars to chef Anthony Bourdain scattered across America’s restaurants, displayed with something close to religious conviction. A St. Tony votive tucked beside the register at a New York taqueria. A mural on the alleyside of a pub in southern Indiana. A framed black-and-white portrait — the now-iconic one where he faces the camera but looks away, eyes downcast — hung above a Chicago bar like a patron saint of appetite.

....(snip)....

One quote, in particular, tends to surface around this time each year. You’ve probably seen it — shared in restaurant Instagram captions, posterized on Etsy and (according to a deep internet image search) as the basis for at least one tattoo:



It’s often attributed to Anthony Bourdain, and honestly, you understand why. It sounds like him—or at least, like the version of him people hold onto. Wry, romantic, unsentimental. A little drunk. Someone who believed in the pleasures of the table and the moral act of being curious.

....(snip)....

The fake quote, though invented, captures the rhythm of something Bourdain often returned to: the idea that pleasure, especially when shared with strangers, is a kind of ethic. That trying new things, listening closely, ordering the good stuff off the menu—these are not luxuries, but ways of being alive with intention. ................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/06/20/anthony-bourdain-didnt-say-that-but-we-wish-he-did/