Anthony Bourdain received plenty of love for the unconventional
Houston episode of his popular CNN TV series
Parts Unknown. The episode’s diversity was particularly praised. It turns out the bad boy chef turned travel savant achieved that with one simple edict.
“No white people,” Bourdain told producers about his vision for highlighting Houston according to a recent
New Yorker magazine profile.
As
PaperCity’s own Jailyn Marcel pointed out when the Houston
Parts Unknown firstaired, none of the city’s celebrity chefs even sniffed a bit of air time. It turns out most of them never had a chance to get on. Foodie power players such as Chris Shepherd, Bryan Caswell and Ronnie Killen were out from the moment Bourdain issued his “no white people” command.
It’s hard to argue with the results (though when it comes to race, someone is always going to object). Bourdain’s Houston show is one of the most critically-acclaimed episodes of
Parts Unknown ever. Bourdain
tells the New Yorker that he wanted to look at Houston “as a Vietnamese and Central American and African and Indian place.”
There is little doubt Bourdain accomplished his mission — no matter his methods. The episode provided a fascinating look at the Houston that many of the residents populating all the mid-rises and high-rises popping up don’t even know.
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