Anthony Bourdain is one of the few people out there who should have full freedom to post food photos to Instagram. While the rest of the world is clogging it up with their soggy scrambled eggs, Bourdain is snapping pics of himself having soup with the Maasai. And lemme tell you, the Maasai know how to make a bowl of soup.
While most of that job — first with No Reservations and now with Parts Unknown — involves incredible experiences and soaking up rich cultures, there’s also the part that involves eating warthog anus. Let’s take a look back at some of the more bizarre moments he’s found himself in on his travels.
1. Hospital chic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1mwaCa7lNE
“Man, if only hospitals didn’t have all those pesky sick people they’d be a diner’s dream.” Because nothing is more appetizing than “hospital smell,” Bourdain visited a Singapore restaurant that seats patrons in gold-plated wheelchairs while they eat off of surgical tables. Where those wheelchairs came from who only the restaurant owners know, but I’m betting there’s an Asian Tiny Tim who’s back to hobbling around on crutches.
2. Be still my beating cobra heart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovwj0FYN0Qg
Dinning on cobra heart is a delicacy in Vietnam, and I’m also pretty sure it’s how that witch-doctor from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom got his powers. Bourdain described the experience to Letterman during his appearance on the Late Show.
“It was in Vietnam. It’s a table side dish and they bring the cobra by and let him kind of strike at you or hiss and then they zip it open with a pair of gardening shears. The little heart drops onto a plate and you eat it. It is in fact beating all the way down.”
3. Beijing’s houtons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_ng9XLDRpM
I can be a little hesitant sometimes to try exotic new foods, and something that looks like pig slop isn’t exactly at the top of my list. Oh, what’s that you say, it is pig slop. Good to know. *Leaves to go checkout the Bejing-only Pizza Hut menu.*
4. Dinner with the Nuge!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75ECqhxnrc0
It’s a beautiful thing when people can put aside their differences and come together to enjoy a gutted deer carcass. Besides a love of meat, Ted Nugent and Anthony Bourdain seem like polar opposites in every other aspect, which is what makes this one of the more unusual/charming segments from his Southwest trip.
5. Dinning on live octopus in Queens, NY.
This was part of No Reservations’ “Outer Boroughs” episode which took Bourdain to one of the more exotic restaurants in New York. Seafood simply doesn’t get fresher than eating a live octopus. Dining on the mollusk does come with a risk as they’ve been known to latch on to diner’s throats causing suffocation. I couldn’t find actual video of the episode, but if your twisted mind must see the food experience, others have uploaded their meal to YouTube.
6. Eating dirt omelets in Nambia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIcAkoVslwI
You should know that before you visit Nambia, there are zero Denny’s to be found. Not to worry though, the bushmen can still whip up a hell of an omelet. Only they have to substitute ham, onions, and cheese with dirt. You cool with that? Just tell yourself that you’re getting extra vitamins and minerals, emphasis on the minerals part.
7. And following it up with warthog anus.
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Anthony followed up his ostrich dirt omelet in Namibia with a side of ham, only the ham was unwashed warthog butthole. Bourdain’s No Reservations producer, Chris Collins told the NY Post that normally he follows suit, but this was the one exception.
“I can confidently say, whatever s - - t he’s put in his mouth, I put in mine, with the exception of the warthog anus,” Collins says. But a man’s got to draw a line somewhere. “They had just squeezed a turd out of it.”
Whew, that was rough. On a lighter note to clean the pallet and hopefully help you forget about that serving of pig bunghole, here’s Anthony struggling to put up a tent.
