Editor's Note, June 8, 2018: Anthony Bourdain has died at age 61, CNN confirmed. The network reported that the cause of death was suicide.
I was sharing a house in Provincetown one summer with a bunch of friends from high school. I was not contributing to the rent, and everybody I was living with was working in seasonal jobs at restaurants either as cooks or floor staff. One night they just said, we need a dishwasher and it's going to be you, since you are not contributing to the rent. So I GOT STARTED AS A DISHWASHER and fell in love with the whole business and the whole subculture.
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When I was 44 years old and had been working in the restaurant business for almost 30 years, I wrote an article for a free newspaper called the New York Press. The idea was to entertain other cooks and chefs. But in a moment of drunken humor, I withdrew the article and sent it to The New Yorker. Forty-eight hours after the article was published I had a book deal, Kitchen Confidential [which was published in 2000].
It is inconceivable to me that anyone who can travel wouldn't. I AM CURIOUS ABOUT THE WORLD. I like films, I like books, to explore a different landscape, a different culture, A DIFFERENT CUISINE — that's deeply satisfying to me in every possible way. I love nothing more than the feeling of being in a city where I don't speak the language, can't read the signs, don't really know what it is that they are eating.
I love the New England Portuguese flavors, Azorean Massachusetts flavors. The first thing I'd like to do when I come back to Boston is to GO TO CRAIGIE ON MAIN and do some serious drinking. I have heard really, really great things about it, and I haven't been yet. — As told to Visi R. Tilak
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This interview has been edited and condensed.
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts or planning self-harm, there are resources available to help:
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
800-273-TALK (8255)
A 24-hour, toll-free, confidential suicide prevention hot line available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.
The Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention
An alliance of suicide prevention advocates. The website contains resources and information:
Riverside Trauma Center
888-851-2451
Offers services and referrals after traumatic events. The center's Crisis Response Line is answered 24 hours.
Crisis Text Line
Crisis Text Line is free, 24/7 support for those in crisis. Text 741741 from anywhere in the US to text with a trained Crisis Counselor.
Text 741741 to talk with a real-life human being trained to bring texters from a hot moment to a cool calm through active listening and collaborative problem solving.