Everyone staying cool out there?
This part of the summer is when I start getting antsy for fall. It’s hot out, too hot out, and fall is my favourite season. But to combat the feelings of Thanksgiving-or-bust, I made a big jug of iced coffee over the weekend, froze about half into popsicles, and sat outside over the long weekend enjoying this greatest of ideas. Summer certainly isn’t all bad.
To accompany my popsicle as I try in vain to stay cool, this week I’ve been watching a new series on Netflix. Parts Unknown first aired on CNN, and is hosted by Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain died earlier this year, and prior to his death, I wasn’t overly familiar with his work. But Parts Unknown was recently added to the selection of shows available, and to be honest, I’d already finished watching Grey’s Anatomy through for the second time. Maybe I needed to watch something with a little substance.
Part travel documentary, part food show, Bourdain explores the far flung corners of the globe with abandon, and with plenty of food. The show is captivating, each episode taking the viewer on a new journey to a new city, a new cuisine, a new culture – and the new issues that come along with it.
He explored post-colonialism and the realities of killing your food in the Congo, racism and true Southern cooking in the Mississippi Delta, Putin and vodka in Moscow on the eve of the Sochi Olympics, and economic collapse and barbecue in Detroit.
Bourdain was well-known as a chef in New York City; he was also an accomplished writer. But I was skeptical about this show when I started watching: what would this man’s perspective bring to the conversation? How would he convey culture without dumbing it down? Can you really convey the nuance of a country, or even a city, in an hour?
One of my favourite episodes so far is in season 3, when Bourdain and co. go to Mexico City. Bourdain explores cartel and gang violence through the lens of photographers and journalists who have witnessed and been subject to the violence that plagues the city, far from the beautiful resorts most of us know. And, of course, there is the food: it makes your mouth water just watching, and I swear you can almost smell it through the screen.
As I’ve watched, I’ve been pleased with how Bourdain handled the complexities of each culture he explored. Food is ostensibly the point of the show; Bourdain eats, and eats and eats. But more importantly is the way people gather around the table and around the food to have these difficult, often funny but serious conversations about culture, politics, war, propaganda, racism and the future. Bourdain turns his nose up at nothing, seeming to recognize that food is often how we bridge the cultural divide.
My other, non-Netflix related plans this week include CannaFest, taking a nice long swim at Christina Lake and writing some stories that I’m excited about. How are you planning to spend the last few weeks of summer?