What did Anthony Bourdain think about Mexican food?

U.S.

celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain , host of CNN ’s food-and-travel-focused “Parts Unknown” television series, killed himself in a French hotel room , on June 8, 2018. He was 61.

Bourdain, whose career catapulted him from cooking at New York ’s top restaurants to dining in Vietnam with President Barack Obama , was found dead in a hotel room in Strasbourg , France , where he had been working on an upcoming episode of his program, CNN said in a statement.

Every episode of “Parts Unknown” was a testimony of his deep passion for food. When he visited Mexico, he tried all sorts of dishes ranging from the most exotic street food to the most expensive delicacies from luxurious restaurants.

At a Reddit session called “Ask Me Anything” he made it clear that Mexican gastronomy wasn’t as well appreciated around the world as it should be, and that, unfortunately, there has been “a racist prejudice that Mexican, as well as Indian food, have to be cheap.” Food prices, he mentioned, are directly related to a country’s economy, military power, and wealth.

Anthony Bourdain would have liked for Mexican food to be more prestigious and to draw more attention at a global scale, given that many Mexican dishes are centuries old, which implies a rich and broad culinary culture that has been handed down through generations to this day, in spite of cultural transformations.

Some of the celebrity chef’s favorite Mexican restaurants were:

1. Fonda Margarita: In one occasion, Anthony Bourdain said that this was perhaps the best place to have breakfast in the world. At Fonda Margarita, in Mexico City, customers can enjoy a traditional home-made breakfast composed of various stews and freshly roasted coffee.​

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1. Tlamanalli: During his visit to Oaxaca, Bourdain visited this famous restaurant owned by the famous chefs Abigail and Rufina Mendoza in Teotitlán del Valle. There, he enjoyed a delicious Zapotec meal.

1. Pasillo de Humo: In Oaxaca, Bourdain was taken to eat at the Pasillo de los Tasajos (Jerkies Passageway), where he tried chorizo and hand-made tortillas.

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