If there is one thing all the fans and followers of Anthony Bourdain is that the chef, in one way or another, marked them at some point in their lives. Were the television shows and books of his that educated Americans to be more adventurous at lunchtime, leaving squeamishness behind and learning to travel, experiment and suck shrimp heads without looking back. No prejudice, no judgement. Hundreds of restaurants saw a resurgence in their reservation books thanks to an appearance on No Reservations, The Layover or Cook's Tour , while a legion of chefs began to be recognized on the street after shaking hands on camera.
His imprint was deep in the history of gastronomy, but also in that of his closest friends and co-workers. That's why We went to Lucy García, producer of the television programs of the chef and writer in Spain , to break down how it was Bourdain's arrival in our country in that meeting with Ferran Adrià and the reason why he returned to record in Spanish territory on seven different occasions.
José Andrés and Anthony Bourdain in Asturias during the filming of Parts Unknown.
ANTHONY BOURDAIN AND FERRAN ADRIÀ, THE CRAZY COOK
the money from this first filming in Spain, back in 2002, was paid out of his own pocket and it was the genesis of Anthony Bourdain's career , from the moment when Ferran Adrià began to see his career catapulted to success international (it was made a year before the chef's famous cover in the New York Times) and at zero point zero origin.
Let us remember that at this time Adrià was not as famous as he is today . "At that time, Ferran was known by the specialized press, the occasional chef and four fans from the gastronomic world. If you asked on the street, nobody knew who he was," García is sincere.
Cover of the documentary Decoding Ferran Adrià (Zero Point Zero)
"Decoding Ferran Adrià, the documentary that emerged from this shoot, was Ferran's launch to make himself known in the world; of the production company (Zero Point Zero) founded by Anthony Bourdain together with his partners – cameras and filmmakers at the time– to eventually create Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations , Tony's most successful show; and the moment in which I began to specialize in the production of gastronomy content, something that I never imagined –although I wished– would happen", says Lucy.
The initial intention of the team was not to create a documentary , but that this was the pilot episode of a new season of Cook's Tour . “After editing they started to move it but they couldn't fit it anywhere. That's why they ended up editing it as a documentary”, says Lucy.
Anthony Bourdain he always said what he thought and did it with irony, sarcasm and humor . “I think that's what got people hooked on him. But then he was a guy that I genuinely liked. he was interested in what people had to say Garcia adds. His thoughts regarding Ferran were not going to be the exception . “This meeting caused me a certain curiosity because the controversy had already been installed before. Tony was very direct and said what he thought but he had a special charm to do it, besides that he could do it being a cultured and knowledgeable guy. He knew about music, cinema, literature... he was a very restless and very curious guy, "continues Lucy.
"The fact is that he had said something in the past about Ferran, something like 'that mad scientist who uses chemistry in his food' " , she tells herself between laughs, "so I didn't know what Ferran was doing in his workshop . I didn't know what I was going to find". The shoot lasted only one day in the workshop of Ferran Adrià and his team (Pere Castells, Albert Adrià...) and in the end it flowed in a casual and organic way.
"I think Tony's team came with the idea that it was going to be really crazy and fun and that it would get a lot of attention when it came to selling it, but really it was all like a learning game Lucy points out.
In fact, Bourdain already followed Ferran's teachings for a long time , so his critical thinking towards him was not lacking in respect. "They had already met at an event and it was when Ferran explained to Tony that the more oil content the product has, the more acorns the pig had eaten, which could be known by rubbing the fat on the lips until to get rid of. Of course, Tony was blown away with this, "says Lucy. "If you see that same chapter of the visit to the workshop, first of all we do a ham tasting at Jamonísimo – an establishment that has now disappeared in Barcelona – and that is where Tony often repeats the gesture of taking the ham to rub it in his mouth before trying it.
THE DAY THE UNITED STATES KNEW VERMUT AND CALÇOTS
"Nobody has eaten as well in the history of the world as we have this week eating in Spain," said Anthony Bourdain at the beginning of the No Reservations: Spain episode. According to Lucy, Tony was able to teach, above all, Americans to be more explorers with their palate , to be more adventurous and to try different things. "There was a tendency for Americans to come to Spain and not try dishes like tripe. Now, it is what they are looking for the most, and the same thing happened with the famous calçotada that we celebrated with him."
"You do not know the number of people who have asked me for autographs for this chapter. And that I only go out as a companion, it is incredible that people recognize me," says Lucy, still amazed. "Once I was at the gate of a flight to Miami and a couple kept looking at me. They came up to talk to me and asked me if I had done the calçotada show with Bourdain," she laughs.
"I feel proud of the recording because her team understood that everything was a party , that the tradition of eating calçots is not going to a restaurant, but a kind of ritual that is shared with family or friends". location where we did everything was a suggestion from Albert Adrià (below, in the photo, sitting in front of Lucy García) and all those who appear at the table are my friends. We made a quite faithful reconstruction of a good calçotada where people had a great time and I think that shows on camera."
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations Spain
In this episode we also went to the Espinaler tavern in Vilassar de Mar a discover to Bourdain all the ritual around vermouth and how cans in Spain are the equivalent of a product of absolute quality, quite the opposite of what they are used to in the United States. We went to visit Andoni in Mugaritz and Tony was delighted, the same with Elena, in Arzak", she continues.
"The stories were powerful, full of important characters. It was a time when the boom in haute cuisine began in Spain. El Bulli didn't come out but Albert, Arzak, Etxebarri came out... Then Over time I think that so many restaurants and so many stars began to tire Tony a little , but at that time it was what fascinated him the most ... the exploration phases of it were very diverse, "admits Lucy. "The first years were of a cook fascinated by cooking and travel. Over time, his range of interest broadened more towards the social aspects she adds.
MADRID AND THE RENAISSANCE OF CASA SALVADOR
In this particular episode, Lucy has special affection.. On a historical level, this was a pretty forceful moment. since the shooting had been scheduled just the weekend in which the 2010 World Cup final would be held . All this without taking into account, from the beginning, that Spain would come to play it. "The team arrived in Madrid on Sunday and the semifinal had been played on Thursday, so we were not going to be able to ignore the collective hysteria that Spain was enjoying," says Lucy. “It was very funny because all of this intensely affected the content of the program and Tony had an interesting knack for dealing with these kinds of cultural issues.”.
On this occasion, although they played the gastronomic scene, as usual, they also delved into the historical-cultural situation of Spain , explaining to the American public, the main target of Anthony Bourdain's television programs, how our flag had lost all political connotation and taken on new meaning during the World Cup celebrations.
It was also a visionary episode in the gastronomic sense: interviewing David Muñoz and his partner and wife at the time, Ángela Montero, in the second and newly opened location of DiverXo; a Pepe Rodriguez in the Bohio and visiting The Cabinet , one of the restaurants of the –now behind Fismuler–. It was on this trip, too, that Bourdain found another character with whom he simply clicked: Gaspar King . With him, he tried the classic restaurant tripe San Mames , while with Guillermo Fesser, gin and tonics involved, visited Casa Salvador.
"Tony had the ability to generate visits to the sites he went to," says Lucy. Back then, Pepe, the owner of the restaurant, said that he had planned to retire and that his daughters had no interest in continuing with the business. “After 5 or 6 months I receive a call from Pepe, excited, telling me to please convey his gratitude because they kept making reservations for him from the US months in advance ”. To this day, Casa Salvador is still standing and with Pepe's daughters in charge.
SPAIN, BOURDAIN'S FAVORITE COUNTRY
After having shot San Sebastián: A Food Lover's Town” (A Cook's Tour), Decoding Ferran Adrià, No Reservations (Spain, Madrid, El Bulli) and Parts Uknown (Spain and San Sebastián), the chef's last trip to Spain was for Roads & Kingdoms with Matt Goulding . It was here that he visited Bodega 1900, Dos Pebrots, Succulent, Enigma, La Plata and La Cova Fumada. "Then we went to the Costa Brava," says Lucy. "Actually, they wanted to shoot at ElBulli but we managed to get them to change direction, since being under construction it wasn't going to have much appeal." In the end, they invented an impromptu party with sailors, Ferran, Albert and Goulding in a cove, well loaded with food and drink.
"In this last shoot, which was the last time I saw him, I couldn't perceive the usual Tony. In front of the camera it was not noticeable, he already knew how to do his magic, but if I noticed something over the years it is that he had lost the freshness with which he started, which was perfectly normal. He was a very famous person and it was very difficult for him to remain anonymous. . I think it also had an influence that this shoot was not done with his usual team. He spent so much time away from home that his team was like his second family. Here I noticed him distant, very thoughtful... "Garcia remembers." The day they told me that he had died, almost a year later, I was in Sweden recording another project. I remember that the news impacted me in such a way that I was absolutely stunned. I get excited just thinking about it," recalls Lucy.
Tony impacted my life in a very profound way. Professionally, I've ended up doing a lot of the things I've done for him. And one of the things that I have regretted the most is not having said “thank you” to him in life. . If I hadn't taken advantage of the last shoot to tell him that much of what I've done in the world related to gastronomy has been thanks to his help. That's why I want to take advantage of this interview to do it. Because without him I would not be what I am today and that is something that I will never forget".