My guest tonight
is a world-renowned chef,
best-selling author
and publisher
and host of the Emmy-winning
CNN original series
 Anthony Bourdain:
 Parts Unknown.
-♪ ♪
-(whoops)
(chuckling)
BOURDAIN:
Wow, look at this.
(dog barking)
-I mean... -BOURDAIN: This is
a uniquely Italian thing.
-WOMAN: With the Speedos.
-BOURDAIN: The banana hammock.
-The what?
-Banana hammock.
(laughter)
WOMAN: In America, people don't
want to get a tan like this?
BOURDAIN: They don't want
to reveal that much
about themselves.
It takes the mystery out of...
-They wear the boxers?
-Big boxer.
You can keep 'em guessing
until it's too late.
(laughter)
Please welcome Anthony Bourdain!
-♪ ♪
-(cheering and applause)
-Welcome to the show.
-Thank you. Good to be here.
I've been a fan of yours
for so long,
watching you travel
around the world.
And it was so amazing
this week--
I guess it was, uh,
perfect timing--
CNN aired, uh,
a bunch of your shows,
 Anthony Bourdain, 
specifically of you in Africa,
around the same time that
the president was commenting
on how, uh, these
are shithole countries.
-Yeah, what a coincidence.
-Right.
You-you tweeted about, uh...
about the president saying
"shithole countries."
Why-why did it affect you
so much? Why did it offend you
-so much? -Because, apparently,
I've wasted my life
going to shitholes. I mean, I've
spent 17 years traveling around
to extraordinary places.
I mean, the notion
that people don't work hard...
Uh, clearly, no one on his team
has been to Nigeria,
uh, where people work
like no one I've ever seen.
It was just deeply, I mean,
enraging, enraging to me,
because it's a refutation
of everything I've seen,
experienced,
uh, all the people I've met
and everything I've done
in the last 17 years.
Would you say that that's
something that has shaped
your experiences, uh, and
sh-shaped your-your world view,
is traveling to these places?
Because, I mean, for
many people, in their defense,
they see images of Africa
and they go,
"Oh, that place
doesn't look great."
But on your show, you have gone
to, as you say, parts unknown,
some
of the most beautiful locations
and some of the most unlikely
destinations.
Does it change how you see
the people and the places?
Yeah, I mean, I think,
uh, Mark Twain said
that travel is lethal
to prejudice.
Uh, you know, the extent
to which you can walk
in another person's shoes,
uh, to see how hard people work
and struggle on a daily basis,
even for very little,
and-and the extent to which
you see how much people do,
-how-how well things are going,
how... -Right.
I mean, I love showing up
in places thinking one thing,
and having those expectations
turned on their heads
all the time.
Um, you know, but then again,
you know, I'm a fool.
-I think curiosity is a virtue,
and, that's not... -That does...
-That's something, uh...
-(applause and cheering)
Let me ask you this.
Like, just on-on a food level,
-as a chef...
-Mm-hmm.
What do you think
America would be like
if there were no food...
like, if there were no foods
from any
of these other countries?
Well, to start with, you know,
good old American Southern food,
as we know it,
you know, classic Americana
wouldn't exist.
I mean, that...
If you spent any time
in Ghana,
you see exactly where,
you know...
food that we associate...
tend to associate
on Food Network
with, you know,
old white ladies-- we...
-This is African food, you know.
-(laughter)
So, look,
the history of the world
is on your plate.
-Right. -Every plate of food
is an expression of-of a long...
often a long struggle,
uh, a long story,
and I guess
that's one of the satisfactions,
one of joys of traveling
and eating as you...
You find out
who's cooking and why
-and where these things
come from. -Right.
Um, I mean, I grew up, uh,
in the early '60s.
American food then-- your
options were extremely limited.
You know, so the more
we have people
from somewhere else
bringing their food chain
and ingredients and traditions,
uh, life only gets better.
When you... when you look
at that-that statement--
the food telling you a story
about the people,
not just the people
who are preparing it,
but the people
who are eating it,
which I think
is a beautiful statement,
if someone was
to eat cheeseburgers
-every day, all the time...
-(laughter)
...what do you think
that would say about them
and their culinary tastes
as a person?
-239 pounds, apparently.
-(laughter)
(applause and cheering)
-Uh...
-The, um...
You know I think
it's worth noting.
It is reported that, uh,
President Trump, in his year
in Washington D.C.,
which is a very good
restaurant town,
has never been
to any other restaurant
-than his steakhouse
at the Trump Hotel. -Wow.
Where he eats well done steaks
with ketchup.
-You're hurting me.
-I know. I know. -(laughter)
-I'm doing this on purpose.
-That hurts.
Uh, I'm interested though.
Do you think
he can use chopsticks?
(audience groaning,
chuckling)
That-that sounds like an insult.
-(laughter)
-But it's a valid question.
-I'd be curious to know.
-If that was, like, on the test
to determine whether or not
you could be president...
-(laughter)
-I think America might be, like,
calling him President Pence
right now.
-(laughter)
-Let's-let's move on
and talk about, um, you know,
the journey that life
has taken you on.
 Anthony Bourdain:
 Parts Unknown
has taken you on many journeys.
You know,
you've grown as a person.
Um... one of the more painful
and-and, I would think,
interesting journeys
you've taken in your life
happened just very recently,
-with regards to the
#MeToo movement... -Mm-hmm.
happening, uh,
not just in America
but in many parts of the world.
Your girlfriend was
one of the people
who first came out
and exposed a story
-regarding Harvey Weinstein.
-Mm-hmm.
Your comment posts
that were really interesting,
because not only
were you supportive,
you felt disappointed
in yourself
because there were
many women you...
had now heard stories from
who didn't tell you the stories,
-and you regarded them
as friends. -Yeah.
Why were you disappointed
in yourself?
(sighs):
Um...
You know, I came out of
a brutal, oppressive business
that was historically
unfriendly to women.
Um... I knew a lot of women,
it turned out,
who had stories
about their experiences,
about people I knew, who did not
feel I was the sort of person
they could confide in.
And suddenly, because
of my association with Asia,
people were talking to me.
And, in fact, I had started
speaking about it.
I have a sense of real rage.
I mean,
I'd like to say that I...
I arrived at... I was
always enlightened in some way,
or that I am an activist,
or virtuous,
but, in fact, you know,
I have to be honest with myself.
I met one extraordinary woman
with an extraordinary
and painful story,
and, uh, who introduced me
to a lot of other women
with extraordinary stories,
and suddenly it was personal.
And, uh, you know, that...
that woke me...
To the extent that
I ever woke up, that...
that certainly had an effect.
So, you know, I think,
like a lot of men,
I'm reexamining my life.
Uh, you know, I get...
I wrote sort of
the meathead Bible
-for, uh, for restaurant
employees and chefs, -Right.
um, and, uh, you know,
I look back,
like I hope a lot of men
in that industry,
and say, you know, not so much
what did I do or not do,
but what did I see and...
and what did I let slide,
what did I not notice?
Um, you know,
I think that's something
that people are gonna have
to really take into account now.
Yeah, it is something that the
movement has definitely demanded
of men in all industries.
And I think what
was particularly painful was
you expressed it so honestly,
you know, when
Mario Batali's story came out,
and then other chefs came out,
and these were people
who you regarded as friends,
and these are people
who you know,
in a nuanced world,
people struggle to understand
that may still be a friend.
But-but how do you grapple
with that?
Like, how do you wrap your head
around that?
What do you aim to do
going forward?
Will you go, like,
"As Anthony Bourdain,
"I have a platform, I have a,
you know, an imprint.
"I have access to this world,
uh, you know,
of-of chefs and of
restaurants..."
-What do you aspire to now?
-Well, it-it-it,
it's been a long time since I've
been in the--
it's been about 20 years since
I've been in the industry,
and I have been removed
from it.
But, I mean, you know, look,
no matter how much
I admire someone,
um, or respected their work,
uh, you know, I-I'm pretty much
Mean the Merciless
on this issue right now.
I'm not in a, you know,
I'm not in a forgiving, uh,
forgiving state of mind.
I mean, that shit ain't okay.
(cheering and applause)
The...
The business that you are
in now, involves,
not just traveling around the
world, but helping people
of diverse backgrounds
have a voice,
writing cookbooks,
telling their stories
about their parts
that are unknown.
You, Anthony Bourdain,
you could have just done it
for yourself.
Why was it so important for you
to get these people involved,
and to help them get
their stories out there?
Um, you know, I'm one of those
annoying people
if I read a book
or see a movie or hear--
listen to a record that I
really, really like,
if I could I'd come over
to your house
and shove it in your hands
and then sit there and,
you know, listen to it with you
-to make sure you don't miss
anything, -(laughing)
-or read every line, you know?
-That is an annoying person.
-I know those people, yeah.
-I, I...
I'm passionate to the point
of-of being evangelical
-about things that I love,
that give me pleasure, -Right.
and make me excited.
And, um, you know,
I didn't really--
I didn't travel, uh,
until I was 42 years old.
-I spent my whole working life
in kitchens. -Wow.
I'd seen nothing of the world,
so this is all still
relatively new to me.
Um, people have been very kind.
We have had-- I-I feel very,
very, very fortunate, um,
and so, you know,
as a publisher of-of--
as somebody who puts people
from all over the world
on television, you know,
to a great extent,
it is a selfish act,
-because I'm having fun.
-Right.
I enjoy it;
it makes me feel good.
Um, but I'm also, you know,
coming to as many people's
houses as possible,
-and sitting down next to them,
-Right, right.
and watching the movie with them
and saying, you know,
I want you to notice this.
I want you to see
how awesome these places are.
I don't feel like I'm an
advocate or a,
a spokesperson for anything.
I'm just, you know,
I'm an enthusiastic
son of a bitch.
And I, and I, you know, I'm
having a really good time.
And the things that make me
happy, uh,
you know, especially if it's
somebody who I feel
is not reaching
a wider audience,
well, I'd like to,
I'd like to help.
I love that, man.
Anthony Bourdain:
enthusiastic son of a bitch.
-Thank you. -Thank you so much
for being on the show.
Season 11 of Anthony Bourdain:
 Parts Unknown,
premieres in April on CNN.
Anthony Bourdain, everybody.
