If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can — across the ocean, or simply across the river. The extent to which you can walk in someone else’s shoes, or at least eat their food, is a plus for everybody. Open your mind. Get up off the couch. Move.
— Anthony Bourdain
A chef, writer, traveler (never a tourist), learner, host, observer; all of these labels could be proudly represented by Anthony Bourdain. Despite his astounding titles, Bourdain was most known for his capacity for human connection. Charging at the unknown head first, since there is no other way to experience the world than to just, Bourdain sought unity in the most unfamiliar corners of the world.
Bourdain embodied the idea of displacement. Despite this, he managed to find community wherever he ended up. Discomfort, as Bourdain suggests, is not something to avoid but something mandatory for empathy, growth, and a more grand understanding of the world.
Movement. Movement disrupts the dull of daily life and challenges world views. The scale of said travel doesn’t matter; your intention does. You can try a new coffee shop across town, or travel to another country. Either way, movement coincides with new experiences and opportunity. We are only here for so long, so why not experience as much as you can while you can?
Alongside the drive to travel, a motif through Bourdain’s journeys was food. Food is a gateway to gaining insight into different cultures and backgrounds; a metaphor for human connectivity. Sharing meals with others is not only a form of intimate connection, but can serve as an exchange.
In today’s society we are accustomed to echo chambers. Consuming views that only align with our own amplifies our personal narrative, narrowing the gap for alternate viewpoints. We curate our consumption, both online and in real life, through media and social interactions. Empathy grows from exposure, not isolation.
Taking a step outside your comfort zone, physically displacing yourself, emotionally challenging your limits, or intellectually destabilizing your beliefs, is a form of courage: the courage to be unsettled. Because quite frankly, it requires a lot of strength to face the unfamiliar and to go against your preferences. Bourdain highlights this through prioritizing curiosity over fear. Courage is not simply overcoming, it is experiencing the fear and moving despite it.
Personally, I have never ventured outside of the East Coast of the U.S. Compared to Bourdain’s global trek, my worldly experience may seem small. Yet, displacement is relative. For me, leaving home to attend college in the South was its own act of courage. The comfort of my home “bubble” dissolved the moment I stepped foot into a culture that felt undeniably different from my own. Their accents, traditions, way of life, and even their breakfast choices differed from mine. Shrimp and grits, biscuits even, were once a foreign concept to my northern palate. But through the generosity, hospitality, and humility of my friends, those meals became more than just unfamiliar, they became invitation; into stories, into history, into perspectives.
Throughout my transition from home to college, I began to understand what Bourdain meant. Discomfort was not something I endured until I could return home—it was something to embrace. My world did not expand because I travelled far; it expanded because I allowed myself to be unsettled. Through the unsettlement, I found connection. That is the quiet courage Bourdain embodies, not the grand gesture of crossing oceans or conquering time differences, but the willingness to cross smaller hurdles within ourselves.
Growth begins where comfort ends. So get up and go. It does not have to be far and you do not have to have a rigid plan. Reframe movement as a practice rather than a destination, a disciple of intentional simple curiosity. A lifelong practice that can be done in small ways with intention.