In college my boyfriend (now husband) had on an episode of No Reservations for background noise. I didn’t appreciate the beauty of food shows then; I actually found the Food Network wholly boring, over all. This was a guy going to restaurants — a food show — so I ignored it, loafing around his room…

…until the host started quoting Kubla Khan (one of my favorite poems), and he did it to emphasize how much he enjoyed eating roasted pig. (Something about the “dome of pleasure”, if I’m remembering correctly.)

Then I knew, I wasn’t watching a food show. I was watching a fantastic show.

This was how I was introduced to Anthony Bourdain. I watched his show through my early post-college years, and liked catching his new show on CNN. I’ve fallen out of watching him so heavily the last few years, but he was still a celebrity who brought me joy. It hasn’t hit me yet, that he isn’t out there making new documentaries, quoting Romantic poetry as he digs into a new favorite food.