Might Food Be a Lasting Vessel for Connection?

Roadrunner: An exploration of mixed Reviews and a Poignant Reminder About a Man Who Believed We Might Find the Beginning of Peace in Food

Photo by Spencer Davis on Unsplash

“Food may not be the answer to world peace, but it's a start.” – Anthony Bourdain

If you’ve read a review or two of Roadrunner, the documentary about Antony Bourdain’s life, you know that it received mixed reviews – and not all favorable.

In the article “Send it Back: How Roadrunner Fails Anthony Bourdain”, Rogerebert.com says that the documentary didn’t do Bourdain any service, as it didn’t paint a true or full picture of who he was. That article’s reviewer concludes that “all of the emotion displayed by participants (in the documentary) rings hollow. It’s not that the tears for Bourdain’s life aren’t real, but the way the filmmakers elicit them from the participants and package them feels less like a loving tribute to a man no one ever fully knew, and more like vultures picking the last meat off his bones.”

A harsh point of view, but worth considering.

Is it possible really, to put back together a man’s life in a documentary?

This is the interesting thing about a man like Anthony Bourdain. 

He became a beloved character for many reasons in his lifetime. His fame began as the author of a book called Kitchen Confidential and then crystallized as he became known for such television creations as Parts Unknown and No Reservations.  

He connected us with the sometimes-nitty gritty details of ordinary life. 

His curiosity inspired some of us to see “parts” otherwise “unknown,” to us.  Life in the kitchen. Life on the road. In his words, and over the screen, he seemed to have an uncommon amount of empathy – or ability to sense and understand some of the nuances of life that might pass us by otherwise.

Or that some of us might pass by without thinking.

He invited us to pause with him as he took up eating with others on their home turf. We joined him at the table, during dinner conversations about food and life.

We felt moved by these conversations and it seems that they moved him too.

Consider this reflection by Bourdain, “‘Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully you leave something good behind.’”

As he traveled and dined, he drew people in to connect. He appealed to us through our own hearts as he explored the tables of the world.

He saw that food was an intimate way to connect with people and is quoted as saying this, “food may not be the answer to world peace, but it's a start.”

That was his public life.  

In his private life, he lived through three significant chapters of romantic relationships, starting with his first love – a high school sweetheart – that he remained married to for 30 years. This led to a second and then third significant relationship.  Along the way, he became a father to a daughter. As the documentary Roadrunner demonstrates, he made his mark on personal relationships too, those in his cast and crew, and friends who detailed some of what they knew about him in the film. Often times tearing up, as they remember the mark he made on their lives.

But, no matter how meaningful the documentary Roadrunner may have been, it is really difficult to portray another human being's life. The harsh review gets this right. Even a life that was so well documented as Anthony Bourdain's. The documentary itself is replete with video and audio of the man that seems to fit with the storyline. It's almost as if there is already video and audio for any story you might tell of this man’s life. 

So much of it seemed to be documented in the end.

We see him as a young chef, waiting for the fish to arrive at the curbside. Ordering for the kitchen. Walking down the street. Arriving for Thanksgiving dinner. Rolling out of bed, grabbing a smoke and then typing away on the computer.

But, even so, in spite of all of this audio and video, the digital representation that becomes the film, does remain somewhat empty.  

Maybe this is mostly because no writing, or film, here forward will be him. No matter how much digital footage we have of him.

We can’t know him, as we might hope we could.

No matter how well-intended a documentary might be, it is never fully or actually the person – the beloved human being, that was.

Of course, Anthony Bourdain was sadly lost to suicide. This man who invited us along as he explored the world, observed it, and who seemed to feel it deeply is gone. For any of those who deeply appreciated him, and his work, that will remain a profound loss.

Even if no documentary will get it quite right, we can do our best to remember him, for the insights he shared with us while he was here.  Especially those that invite us into reflection, or connection with one another. Those that invite us to remember that food might be an everlasting vessel for connection.  

It might be the place where we begin to find peace together.

When we gather together to break bread, to eat, and to get to know one another, perhaps that is when we’re at our best as human beings.

This may be the crucial underpinning of his extraordinary life and work that we don’t want to miss, or forget.

September is suicide prevention month. If you or someone you know is in crisis, or in emotional distress learn what to do here.

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Shannon Mullen O’Keefe and Mark A. Irwin contributed to this article.