Five days ago, I woke up on a normal Friday morning for a normal, uneventful day at work. But this was not going to be a normal, uneventful day. As I stumbled, half asleep, to the bathroom for my regular morning ablutions I routinely began to check my phone's social media apps to catch up on possible events from the overnight hours. I came across a post from one of my journalism classmates, who now lives in Germany, and my heart sank.
"Anthony Bourdain is dead at 61."
I read the headline she had shared a couple times. Some comments on the post mentioned it wasn't "fake news" because the coverage was all over CNN. I immediately did a web search and confirmed the truth for myself. I was speechless. How? Why? "He was found dead in France," read the reports, "Apparent suicide." A couple silent tears streaked my face and I awoke my husband to tell him the news.
I'm not one to normally get upset over celebrity deaths, but something about Bourdain's death really got to me, and to my husband. His shows, No Reservations, and especially Parts Unknown, have become staples in our viewing schedule and repertoire. The shows have brought my husband and I to a common ground on culinary knowledge, dream experiences and general all around foodie-ness. My husband has always been more food-adventurous than me, but Bourdain's stories, ideas and delivery of different experiences has helped me get to similar place as my significant other and helped me bond with him on a whole new level.
Bourdain's travels to lesser known parts of the globe to talk to the people and sample their foods has garnered it's own niche of followers that thrive on and eagerly await the next tale. He spoke and shared meals with anyone and everyone: political figures, political dissenters, heroes, rebels, musicians, artists, business owners, writers, retirees, up and comers, entrepreneurs, the rich, and the poor. He gave time for a wide variety of people from all walks of life to tell their stories. The main goal of Parts Unknown, in particular, was to showcase that everyone all over the world has struggles and that everyone, either individually or as a whole, is just trying to make it to the next day and live the best lives that they can.
In the days since his death, many people around the world have taken to the internet to celebrate his life and accomplishments, but also to mourn the loss of an icon. The hardest part for me was how quickly his own suicide came after Kate Spade's. It was literally three days later.
I could write more on the subjects of Bourdain's career, his culinary talents, his past troubles with addiction, his previous relationships and subsequent divorces, and a manner of other things that made him a subject of the spotlight for years, but I am not going too. I'm going to bring to light the most important thing that needs to come from his death, and Kate's: mental-health.
More and more mental health is being brought to the fore-ground, but it is often at the expense of other people's lives. And, more often than not, those deaths that bring it forward are celebrity's, even though there are so many more mental health related deaths around the world every day that don't get the same attention. Hundreds of thousands of people are battling their own demons, living with depression or anxiety, and it is still a health concern—no, an epidemic—that is being largely overlooked, its sufferers hugely neglected and massively untreated in the correct ways.
- Call 911
- Canada-wide Suicide Prevention Service (1-833-456-4566 or text 45645)
- Kid's Help Phone (1-800-668-6868)
- The Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention list of Saskatchewan Crisis Centres
- Trans Lifeline (877-330-6366)
- Youthspace.ca (text 778-783-0177)
Bourdain's death has, and will affect the culinary world for some time to come. His was a great loss, to not only that world, but to those of travel, advocacy, international culture, world knowledge and many more. His expertise in cuisine provided him with a unique view of the world and allowed him to bring that passion, along with promoting global travel, to the masses. There are cities and countries around the globe that I would have never thought of as places I would want to go if it wasn't for him.
His unparalleled ability to tell a story interwoven with food, the people and politics associated with that food, all against the majestic cultural backdrops of the places he travelled will, in my opinion, never be matched. He had a stacked deck in all the right ways, for all the right places.
No comments:
Post a Comment