I mean, I miss him often. He is one of many people who inspired me to be a writer and showed me that my imperfections were not a reason to keep quiet. He also showed me that the things I thought I knew about places I had not been were very often wrong. I had watched all of his shows, many times over. Favorite episodes of mine were when he visited places like Beirut, Iran, and Gaza. Places that struggled. Places that fought. He wanted us all to know that governments are not people, and people are not governments. That at our core, we are all very much the same. We want to love, we want to laugh, and we can all be friends over a good meal. More, we can learn so much about one another if we just shut up and share a meal. That the mere concept of opening up your home and your heart through cooking for someone is intimate. It’s revealing. It’s human.

But it’s these times. These tragically uncertain times when we desperately grasp for any kind of hope that the lessons of our grandparents are not being forgotten and as such…repeated. I know that in the wake of these stupid tariffs, he would have taken us on a Parts Unknown adventure to both Canada AND Mexico. Places that we followed him several time between his three television shows, but this time would be different. It would be to remind us why we are friends. To remind us why we are allies. To remind us why we are partners not just in trade, but in security. He would have highlighted how after many hurricanes, fires, and floods, Canada was right there at our doorstep to help us recover and rebuild. They are stanch allies and strong trade partners who have always, almost humorously at times, been those nice folks who live upstairs.

I don’t doubt that he would have highlighted the firemen from both Canada and Mexico who risked their lives to help save ours in California recently. Then he would remind of of the many, many personal stories he has of immigrants from many nations but including Mexico who worked with him in kitchens – the trenches where only the strong survive. (and I say that as the wife of a former chef who herself tended bar for many years) People who risked their lives to build a better one. Wonderful, hard working people doing work most who criticize wouldn’t have the stomach for even a partial shift in. I remember many, many things written by Bourdain about both the Mexican people and the nation of Mexico as a visitor. I have personally been there myself many times and have told everyone who would listen how incredibly kind and generous the people are every single time I visit.

I also know for certain that he would have long ago been banned from Twitter for telling it’s owner and destroyer about himself. Honestly, I would have probably kept that account longer just to watch the show erupt between the two of them simply because that other guy is a spoiled rich boy who never worked a real job in his life and Bourdain had decades in service work, travel, and was easily far more intelligent and well written.

I miss the shows he did about America. He visited cities like Houston that are full of immigrants of many kinds and he showed us that when we are so full of diversity, we are the most American. He took us to cities like Detroit that has seemed to fall and crumble but at their core were still full of people willing to share some home cooked food with you (but not the recipe secrets, mind you!) and show you with those flavors that we are America. He took us to cities like New Orleans who had seen the tragedy of a hurricane that broke levees and flooded whole wards, senselessly killing so many and almost washing away entire generations of families and culture. In that episode, we saw the damage – and we met the people who stayed there or came back to rebuild, often with their bare hands. He took us to Montana. He took us to West Virginia and into Coal Country. He took us to Pittsburgh. He talked about lost industries and their economic impact. He talked about the crisis of addiction, something he had personal experience conquering.

Speaking of Pittsburgh, I feel like he would so disappointed in John Fetterman who is not even a shadow of the man he was in that episode.

But mostly, I miss the way he helped make sense in times of uncertainty so that we do not lose hope. I have to admit that right now, hope is something I am losing my grasp on as I read my morning posts and blogs today. We are watching tragic history repeat itself in real time and I struggle to find the light in a very daunting and dark room. I feel like Anthony would have had wisdom from his many, many years of travel in insecure nations to share with us that might help us hold on to that hope. He would remind us of nations that took back power. He would recount stories told to him by the actual freedom fighters that he had the opportunity to meet with, to share a meal with, to find hope within. Mostly, he would tell us to keep fighting – and share a meal with those neighbors.

We kind of need that right now, and I miss him.