Summering on the Couch: Anthony Bourdain Eats At, Opines On The Border

Reruns are like leftovers for your brain.

An episode that originally aired in May of 2006 of the Travel Channel show, “No Reservations,” where chef Anthony Bourdain criss-crosses the U.S.-Mexico border on his motorbike sampling cuisine from both sides re-aired last night and is getting the attention of the internets this morning. We got an email about it in our tipbox and then found a couple of blogs recommending we check it out. The reason, of course, is that Bourdain used the opportunity to give his two cents on the illegal immigration situation something he also does in his book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly:

The idea of America is a mutt-culture, isn’t it? Who the hell is America if not everybody else? We are — and should be — a big, messy, anarchistic polyglot of dialects and accents and different skin tones. Like our kitchens. We need more Latinos to come here. And they should, whenever possible, impregnate our women.

Hello. Thanks for offering us up, there, A.B. But seriously, we do very much enjoy “No Reservations,” when we happen to catch it. We recall another episode in which Bourdain travels to the interior of Mexico to find out where his line cooks get their skillz. He’s treated to an amazing array of authentic eats from one of his right hand men’s moms, since the cook himself can’t travel back to Mexico without fear of never making it back to the U.S. Bourdain earned our props in that one episode for the respect he shelled out in a very public way to the brown kitchen help. And who better to know about such things?

If the [Culinary Institute of America] grads don’t want to squat in a cellar prep kitchen for the first couple of years of their career, or are too delicate or high-strung or too locked into a self-image that precludes the real work of kitchens and restaurants, then they should just stand back and watch their competition from south of the border take those jobs for good. Everyone will end up getting what they deserve.

There are those who argue that Bourdain only cares to keep the borders open so he can keep hiring cheap labor for his kitchens. And those critics have no interest in eating at said restaurants, right? Ahhhhh.

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations
Mexico/US Border
Airs on the travel channel again on Sept. 3rd at 4pm and Oct. 2nd at 11pm.

Bourdain on Immigration [To The People]