Life update: I'm a podcast host now!
all about Friends of Anthony Bourdain + a date for March cooking class
Idk if you’ve heard the chatter on the streets but….I co-host a podcast now!! And it’s all about Anthony Bourdain - the single most important inspiration behind my culinary career. Here’s a link to the trailer.
My love and admiration for the man began when I was a teenager. I know this hardly makes me unique - in fact, Bourdain’s ability to connect to humans in all walks of life and tell their stories through his lens (but without ever making himself the focal point) is what garnered him legions of dedicated fans. And honestly, saying the word “fan” feels wrong because it’s deeper than that; it’s more personal than that. Many of us felt like we weren’t just his fans - it almost felt like we were his friends.
Friends of Anthony Bourdain is a podcast where I, along with my co-host Fabrizio Villalpando (@ theemoodyfoody ) chat with Anthony Bourdain’s friends and travel buddies about the places they traveled to, their relationship with Tony, and generally reminisce about him/how things have been since he’s been gone. It was created by Brandon Brown and is produced by Haley Draznin - read more about them here. We all spent a few days together in Miami recording the first couple episodes and had so much fun, ate a bunch, and had some very *unique* experiences at Mac’s Club Deuce, a historic dive bar that Bourdain loved.
This week’s episode features Tom Vitale, Bourdain’s producer and director of over 20 years. He produced over ONE HUNDRED episodes of Bourdain’s shows during that time which is why I was incredibly excited to speak to him. Who else has such an inside look into what working with Bourdain was like? He traveled to over 80 countries with Bourdain or something ridiculous like that and generally got to see it all (and he wrote about it all, too, in his memoir In The Weeds). I loved speaking with Tom so much and I think you’ll love the episode too - listen here.
Past episodes:
In other news, I’m bringing back cooking classes! Apologies for the brief hiatus but we’re back, baby. As a refresher, paid subscribers get to join me for an hour-long monthly cooking class via zoom. We’ve made gnocchi, we’ve made white lamb bolognese, we’ve made shrimp scampi - we hang, we drink wine, I answer questions - it’s always a good time.
This month’s cooking class will be on Sunday, March 19th at 5pm. What are we making? This is TBD but we are going to milk the last of comfort food season so carbs are on the menu.
Want to come? You can upgrade your subscription below. Paid subscriptions are either $6/month or $49/year and aside from access to cooking classes, you also help keep this publication/my small business (it’s me, I’m the small business) running and I really appreciate that. Hope to see you there!!
-Em
Is the cooking class at 5pm eastern time? thanks!