Bourdain's Palate

Gas - Troh- Seks- Ew-Al..........

No one knows the food better than the locals, when you travel, stick on to what the locals eat, (to understand the real culture) because food and travel are inseparable, make the most of it, when the time and nature gives it's way.
This post is because of the comment, which I got for my previous post – NOT AGAIN – from my friend Malati, the comment is Disgusting (Is it the balut or. ………? Malati). To our south Indian culture the Korean ballut is disgusting, and we put balut under the category of ugly foods, but for the Koreans, the balut is their local delicacy, they are proud of the local foods, it’s the real and purest expressions of a culture. People eat differently around the world, one has to see, smell and hear to have a better understanding of the food & culture. So what palate gives a better understanding of food? Precisely I’ll tell one should have a Palate like Anthony Bourdain… & I’ll call it a Bourdain Palate.
Many knows what “No Reservations” is all about, but how many really knows for what people watch this show on Discovery - Travel & Living,(saturday night @ 10 pm) , in a web discussion many wonder how this fifty and odd old Anthony is so skinny. Yes he is damn skinny with all the food and booze, there are many who watches the show to justify the skinny secret of Tony (Is that because he does a lot of walking?….) to me a chef not necessarily needs to carry a few pounds of paunch, tough Anthony Bourdain a graduate from Culinary Institute of America and a French Chef of Brasserie Les Halles in New York, I would not prefer to call him a chef. ( What shall we call him?)
AB says food is the universal language, Yes, one hundred percent true, and nobody is better than anyone else ,this is one hundred and one percent true. On one of his shows ,AB is in the streets of Kolkatta, Mumbai, Rajastan and in Kashmir (Really he does a lot of walking) Some said, a French tongue tasting Indian food! But the sharp-tongued Tony is interested in whatever is good.
Unlike many foreign chefs (on TV Shows) teaching us how to make Indian food, Anthony explores the true taste from the local hands, that’s really authentic. In Kashmir a local cooks him ghostaba, tabak maas and dishes with lotus roots (how about lotus roots in French cuisine), during the cooking session, Anthony is doing nothing but baby sitting, two hours of baby sitting is all alll right , for the Kashmir delicacy.
Once a chain smoker, now no longer a chain smoker, Tony,drags BEEDI with the local chai (Tea) in Rajastan, walking the desert, he not only explores the foods, but also the people and its culture, I wonder why Anthony tries Astrology in Rajastan, the cities great astrologer revealing the hidden secrets of Anthony in front of the camera (his career, his weddings, his future and his, his animal/not humane like activities in the bed) didn’t any one thought of censor, but the Astrology in front of the camera is also all all alll right for the Rajastani vegetarian delicacy the astrologer serves Anthony later.
I read Anthony say, India is both beautiful and frustrating, because he missed the chance to visit south part of India (to explore the fish, fish and fishes), he can easily spend rest of his life making television in India (same with china also) he also adds India is the only place where he gets to eat a Vegetarian meal, and obviously he is all excited about eating the Bombay Burger (Vada Pav)
Tony says “Food is only the first glimpse of a wider view of how people live their lives in faraway lands and unfamiliar territories” He’s eaten almost everything, what the world cuisine offers and never ever hesitated to try something what the locals eat, from the fermented shark in iceland, to the live snakes in South Asia,to the fried tree worms , to what not… he is a real food lover and I’ll call him a (GAS – TROH – SEKS- EW- Al) Gastrosexual.