It’s been quite a while since I have done a celebrity interview. I think it was Leo Davinci. Sometimes you can’t ignore a coincidence. Case in point, I ran into Tony Bourdain as I was leaving my local dumpling carry-out place. Coincidence or karma? Who knows? Or doesn’t know?
Tony? Is that you? I bet you miss the biz.
Regret is something you’ve got to just live with, you can’t drink it away. You can’t run away from it. You can’t trick yourself out of it. You’ve just got to own it.
That sounds like classic Tony Bourdain. Everyone misses your take on travel.
As you move through this life…you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life – and travel – leaves marks on you.
Well, you covered a lot of ground with the Parts Unknown show.
If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. The extent to which you can walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food, it’s a plus for everybody. Open your mind, get up off the couch, move.
You wouldn’t believe how many imitators are out there trying to do what you did.
Skills can be taught. Character you either have or you don’t have.
There are so many cooking shows on TV now.
Food is everything we are. It’s an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It’s inseparable from those from the get-go.
What do you look for when choosing where to eat?
I’m excited by any food that’s prepared by someone who’s proud of what they’re doing, who puts a personal imprint on food.
Where you off to next?
It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn. Perhaps wisdom, at least for me, means realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go.
Very cool. Any parting advice for us foodies?
Drink heavily with locals whenever possible.
Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. His latest mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon. But that’s not all. You can also purchase the Best of BoomSpeak on Amazon.
