Revisiting Anthony Bourdain’s long-time hatred of Henry Kissinger

Since news broke of the death of former US diplomat Henry Kissinger, political and social commentators have been sharing their passionate reflections on his life and career.

Kissinger died aged 100 on Wednesday (29 November), leaving behind what many are describing as a complicated legacy.

Though some have hailed Kissinger’s influential role in global politics, others have labelled him a war criminal due to his orchestration of the secret carpet-bombing of neutral Cambodia during the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The action killed at least 150,000 civilians, with some estimates going as high as 500,000.

One cultural figure who felt strongly about Kissinger was the chef, food writer and TV host Anthony Bourdain.

Before his death in June 2018, the No Reservations star had expressed disparaging views of President Nixon’s former secretary of state, having spent a significant time in southeast Asia.

In 2001, Bourdain committed his disdain for Kissinger to paper in his book, A Cook’s Tour.

The chef wrote: “Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands. You will never again be able to open a newspaper and read about that treacherous, prevaricating, murderous scumbag sitting down for a nice chat with Charlie Rose or attending some black-tie affair for a new glossy magazine without choking.

“Witness what Henry did in Cambodia – the fruits of his genius for statesmanship – and you will never understand why he’s not sitting in the dock at The Hague next to Milošević.”

In 2018, Bourdain stood firmly in the same views and tweeted in reference to the passage: “Frequently, I’ve come to regret things I’ve said. This, from 2001, is not one of those times.”

While speaking to the New Yorker in 2017, Bourdain spoke of how he was “sickened” by how New York society had embraced Kissinger, rather than shunned him for his actions.

He then launched into a tirade about how it sickens him, having travelled in Southeast Asia, to see Kissinger embraced by the power-lunch crowd.

“Any journalist who has ever been polite to Henry Kissinger, you know, f*** that person,” he told the journalist Patrick Radden Keefe, with “his indignation rising”.

Bourdain continued: “I’m a big believer in moral grey areas, but, when it comes to that guy, in my view he should not be able to eat at a restaurant in New York.”

When Keefe pointed out that Bourdain had dined with others he’d made similarly “categorical denunciations” of in the past, such as fellow chef Emeril Lagasse, Bourdain retorted: “Emeril didn’t bomb Cambodia!” he said.

Kissinger is survived by his wife, Nancy Maginnes Kissinger, two children, and five grandchildren.