Anthony Bourdain was an American celebrity chef, author, and television personality.
He was generally acknowledged as one of the most influential chefs in the world.
Bourdain was a 1978 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and a veteran of numerous professional kitchens, including many years spent as executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles, based in Manhattan with additional locations (at the time) in Miami, Washington, D.C., and Tokyo, Japan.
The acclaim surrounding Bourdain's 2000 memoir, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, led to an offer by the Food Network to host his own food and world-travel show, A Cook's Tour, which premiered in January 2002. It ran for 35 episodes, through 2003.
In July 2005, he premiered a new, somewhat similar television series, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, on the Travel Channel. As a further result of the popularity of Kitchen Confidential..., the Fox sitcom Kitchen Confidential aired in 2005, in which the character "Jack Bourdain" is based loosely on his biography and persona.
The Travel Channel announced in July 2011 that it would be adding a second one-hour ten-episode Bourdain show to be titled The Layover, which premiered November 21, 2011. Each episode featured an exploration of a city that can be undertaken within an air travel layover of 24 to 48 hours. The series ran for 20 episodes, through February 2013.
In May 2012, Bourdain went on to host Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown for CNN. The program focused on other cuisines, cultures and politics and premiered April 14, 2013. The show was set in places such as Libya, Tokyo, Punjab, Jamaica, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Armenia.
Bourdain died June 8, 2018, in Kaysersberg-Vignoble, Grand Est, France. He was 61.
