10 Things You Don't Know About Anthony Bourdain

  The life of  sharp-tongued, globetrotting chef

1)His first cooking job was on Cape Cod.

Born in New York City, Bourdain spent many summers with his family in France while growing up, which is where he tried his first oyster. He later spent his vacations working in kitchens at various seafood restaurants in Provincetown, Massachusetts, which sparked his interest in becoming a chef.

2)He dropped out of college and struggled with drugs.

After two years pursuing a degree at Vassar College, Bourdain called it quits, later continuing his education at the Culinary Institute of America instead. In his first book, he talks openly about his long-time addiction to cocaine and heroin, which he eventually recovered from.
"I understood that I got a pretty lucky break here, and that it was statistically unlikely to happen again," he told Men's Journal. "I've been pretty careful about not f*cking up the opportunities that have come since."

3)But he was firm about staying drug-free.

While Bourdain still drank alcohol, he quit smoking after becoming a father and stopped doing drugs before that. Of his former addiction, he wrote on Reddit: "Most people who kick heroin and cocaine have to give up on everything. Maybe ‘cause my experiences were so awful in the end, I’ve never been tempted to relapse."

4)He used to have a Food Network show.

Bourdain doesn't exactly have the cheery disposition of most Food Network stars, but he did host a show called A Cook's Tour on the channel from 2002-2003. Travel Channel snatched him up next to host the extremely popular show, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, and later, The Layover. Bourdain made the switch to CNN in 2013 to head up Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, which is still filming new episodes.

5)His books are bestsellers.

Bourdain's nonfiction book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, stemmed from an article that was originally published in The New Yorker. After it landed on The New York Times bestseller list, he penned two more that also made the cut in 2001 and 2006. More recently, Bourdain co-wrote a graphic novel, Get Jiro!, as well as Appetites, a cookbook.

6)He ate his way around the world.

Make no mistake — Bourdain could cook — but he spent plenty of time eating out, too. Through his own travels and during filming, Bourdain circled the globe, slurping noodles in Hanoi, scarfing hummus in Beirut and drinking with the locals in Borneo. He was always the guy to ask for recommendations, no matter where you were vacationing.

7)He was best friends with a Michelin-starred chef.

After Bourdain mentioned chef Éric Ripert in Kitchen Confidential, he got a call from the Le Bernadin owner, inviting him to lunch. The two were best friends, and Ripert often traveled with Bourdain to China and beyond during filming. Ripert was in France with Bourdain when he passed away.

8) His second wife was a restaurant hostess.

Bourdain's second wife, Ottavia, was a hostess at one of Ripert's restaurants when her whirlwind romance with Bourdain began. On their second date, the pair got matching tattoos of a chef's knife, and after their daughter Ariane born in 2007, they tied the knot within 11 days. The pair split in 2016, but remain on good terms, despite the new woman in Bourdain's life.

9)He was a devoted father.

Bourdain and Ottavia had a child — his first and only — in 2007. After the birth of Ariane, now 11, Bourdain decided to live more cautiously, at least compared to his old daredevil ways. He told PEOPLE, "In retrospect, I don’t know that I would do that today — now that I’m a dad or reasonably happy," when talking about jumping off cliffs into water for The Travel Channel.

10)He had an impressive tattoo collection.

Bourdain's "bad-boy chef" image didn't just come from his past — his sharp tongue and tatted-up skin added to it as well. In addition to the chef's knife, he had a skull on his right shoulder and an ouroboros — a snake swallowing its tail — on his left shoulder that he got while filming No Reservations in Malaysia. There was also one on his arm that reads "I am certain of nothing," in ancient Greek, and a scorpion tat that he got at a house party while filming Parts Unknown in Nashville.