What Inspired Anthony Bourdain To Become A Chef In The First Place?

Anthony Bourdain wore many caps — world-renowned chef, TV host, food and travel journalist, writer. However, this litany of admirable titles can easily obscure the quite ordinary beginnings from which he came. Trust us when we say there is a lot more to Bourdain's story than what he did before his first TV show.

Bourdain, born in New York City and raised in New Jersey, was a self-touted adolescent rebel. By his own admission he was undisciplined and had a poor work ethic. Everything changed, however, when he worked his first restaurant job as a dishwasher at a seafood restaurant in Provincetown, Massachusetts during a summer he spent with friends there. He got the job in order to contribute to the rent but was inspired by the hard, unwavering rules of professional kitchens. 

During his time working at the restaurant, Bourdain found his work ethic and passion, and this discovery set him on the path to becoming a professional chef. (It's also possible that he developed some of his iconic food opinions during this time, including his insistence that you shouldn't order mussels from a restaurant.) Bourdain said working as a dishwasher gave him significant life lessons and values, such as discipline and determination. These traits would stand him in good stead during his later life.

When he was promoted to working a cooking station in the kitchen, Anthony Bourdain felt a call to hone his chef skills. Beginning college, however, threw a wrench into his culinary progression. Bourdain enrolled in Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, to pursue a bachelor's degree. After two years, Bourdain's parents were struggling to pay tuition and he told his parents he was going to drop out. To bolster his culinary education, Bourdain began studying at the Culinary Institute of America, also in Poughkeepsie. While in culinary school, he traveled to New York City to work weekends in restaurant kitchens.

After graduating in 1978, he worked in kitchens for many years and even wrote two crime novels that were published (albeit to modest acclaim). While he worked in numerous restaurants, Bourdain's culinary career culminated in him becoming the executive chef at Les Halles, a brasserie in Manhattan. He held this role for several years after his hit book "Kitchen Confidential" was published, although it is not known how often he was actually at the restaurant during this time. (That being said he did write the "Les Halles Cookbook," which is a joy to cook from, years after "Kitchen Confidential" was published.) Eventually, Bourdain stepped away from Les Halles to focus on his writing and TV career, ending his decades-long career as a professional chef.