25 Things You Didn't Know About Anthony Bourdain

25 Things You Didn't Know About Anthony Bourdain

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Complex Original

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Often misunderstood, Anthony Bourdain is one of Hollywood’s most mischaracterized and contradicting personas. He’s lazy yet busy, iconoclastic yet conforming, and charming yet extremely arrogant. Unabashed and willing to speak his mind, and most often crudely, he has positioned himself against a number of food critics and TV personalities including Rachael Ray and Paula Deen.

Besides serving up some of television’s finest food and travel shows, he also boasts an impressive cooking repertoire, once serving as the executive chef of a New York fine restaurant. Despite the notorious attention for his crude behavior, he is as real as it gets. Here is a man who readily acknowledges that nearly 30 years ago he was working on the clock at New York’s finest restaurants but now prefers to host some of TV's best travel series like CNN's Parts Unknown.

To understand Bourdain's confounding personality a little better, here are 25 things you didn’t known about Anthony Bourdain.

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25. Anthony Bourdain loves when his daughter sings Katy Perry.

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24. Anthony Bourdain thinks smoking makes you cool.

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23. Anthony Bourdain thinks being a heroin addict was great preparation into becoming a celebrity.

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22. Anthony Bourdain had a really bad experience at the Kalahari.

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21. Anthony Bourdain ate a live cobra's heart.

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20. Anthony Bourdain used a fake identity.

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19. Anthony Bourdain hates foodies, but thinks they're beneficial for tourists.

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18. Anthony Bourdain likes cartoon shows.

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17. Anthony Bourdain still loves fast food joints.

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16. Anthony Bourdain had a profound experience on LSD.

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15. Anthony Bourdain's last meal choice would be roasted bone marrow.

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14. Anthony Bourdain's first respectable job was a dishwasher boy.

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13. Anthony Bourdain always picks on Rachael Ray.

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12. Anthony Bourdain really respects Julia Child.

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11. Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert made a chocolate bar, and it's really rare and really good.

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10. Anthony Bourdain was the executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in New York.

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9. Anthony Bourdain dropped out of college.

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8. Anthony Bourdain is really good friends with Eric Ripert.

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7. Anthony Bourdain practically lived like a rock star.

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6. Anthony Bourdain's life was forever changed by eating an oyster.

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5. Anthony Bourdain disliked Paula Deen before it was cool.

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4. Anthony Bourdain's old enemy used to be the 'GQ' food critic Alan Richman.

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3. Anthony Bourdain had a cool childhood.

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2. Anthony Bourdain sent an article in on a drunken whim.

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1. Anthony Bourdain kept weird ingredients in the kitchen.

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