The chef and Emmy-winning host ventured to more than 80 countries, but fear kept him from the land of chocolate and cheese
The One Country Where Anthony Bourdain Refused to Film an Episode
When renowned chef Anthony Bourdain died in 2018, he was lauded for breaking down barriers to other countries’ cuisines. Indeed, with award-winning travel-and-food shows like Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, he showed viewers why they shouldn’t fear the unfamiliar.
And while he rarely shied away from any unappetizing food delicacies himself—the man once ate a still-beating cobra heart in Vietnam, after all—he actually did stay away from one lovely European country. For Anthony Bourdain, Switzerland was a no thank you. Keep reading to find out why this wasn’t a neutral decision for the chef.
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Why didn’t Anthony Bourdain go to Switzerland?
Because he was scared. It’s true: Bourdain went on the record about his “morbid fear” of a country famous for peace, chocolate and cheese. “I must have had some terrible childhood experience while watching Sound of Music that I blocked out,” he told Conan O’Brien in 2016. “Even alpine vistas, like snow-capped peaks or Lake Geneva, or cuckoo clocks or those hats with the feathers—even the cheese; it’s scary to me.”
As with any irrational fear, the chef couldn’t put his finger on what it was that freaked him out about Switzerland. But yodeling did spike his anxiety. “You just feel that in your marrow,” he said. “I mean, it’s horrifying.” And Bourdain’s fear of Switzerland was real. Though he traveled to more than 80 countries, including Lebanon, Senegal and Trinidad, a Switzerland stamp remained conspicuously absent from his passport.
Besides Switzerland, what else scared Anthony Bourdain?
Clowns, mimes, karaoke and rats—in that order. That’s per a Top 5 Biggest Fears rundown that he made for the List app in 2016. And in case you’re wondering, Bourdain characterized those smiling birthday party staples as non-funny “sinister figures” laden with homicidal tendencies. (By the way, Switzerland ranked No. 3 on Bourdain’s Top 5 list.)
Bourdain also revealed that he has an aversion to Polka music, ukuleles, neckbeards with banjos, golf clothes, The Real Housewives of Anywhere (“their glassy gazes, surgical addictions and single minded hunger for attention are a clear and present danger to anyone in their trajectories”), pressure cookers and Nashville Hot Chicken (“the extra hot version”).
So where did Anthony Bourdain like to go?
Head east and don’t stop until you get to Tokyo. In a 2017 interview with Maxim, Bourdain explained why he favored the Japanese city the most: “If I had to agree to live in one country, or even one city, for the rest of my life, never leaving it, I’d pick Tokyo in a second.” He added that he was fascinated by the city’s layers of flavors, tastes and customs.
Bourdain’s love of Tokyo didn’t stop with its cuisine. He also practiced the Japanese martial art of jiu-jitsu and even penned a graphic novel about a sushi-chef who “beheads customers who stir wasabi into their soy sauce.” And during the Maxim interview, Bourdain was getting a tattoo in a style called tebori, which is a traditional stick-and-poke Japanese tattoo method.
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Sources:
- CNN: “Why is Anthony Bourdain scared of Switzerland?”
- Eater: “Anthony Bourdain’s Top 5 Biggest Fears”
- Daily Meal: “The Most Bizarre Things Anthony Bourdain Has Ever Eaten”
- Maxim: “Remembering Anthony Bourdain: The Late Chef On Tattoos, Japan And The One City Where He Could Have Lived Forever”
- Get Jiro! by Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose
