Bad Boy Chef Anthony Bourdain Kicks Off New Season with a Bang

Bestselling author, veteran French chef, apparently reformed drug addict and wise-cracking Travel Channel host Anthony Bourdain is finally back this month, with more of his smash-hit show No Reservations. Millions of addicted fans have been tuning in these past few weeks to catch the premier of season 5's second half, and to bask in the snarky glory, deep cultural insights, and poetic commentary his fans have come to know and love since his first televised appearance on Food Network's A Cook's Tour more than seven years ago. Long-time fans will remember A Cook's Tour as the rougher, grittier version of his current series, which kicked off with an unforgettable, absinthe-fueled Parisian binging-spree - complete with surreal, nightmarish hallucinations and first class accommodations at L'Hôtel, sleeping in the actual bed where Oscar Wilde died.

Yet, though his recent exploits have certainly lost some of the grizzly charm and shock-momentum that first carried him into the travel writing, TV-hosting scene on the back of his infamously risqué memoirs A Cook's Tour, Bourdain is bigger than ever, and after an episode or two of No Reservations, it isn't hard to see why. New viewers and diehard Bourdain groupies alike can still enjoy the serated wit, sneering charisma, and often moving observational genius that first put him on the map as much as ever these days.

With Chile, Australia, and America's 'rust-belt' already covered so far, this season promises to be one of the most diverse, visually stunning, and thought-provoking yet, with San Francisco, Thailand, the Rockies, and Sardinia still to come. There are also several more mysteriously-titled episodes planned, like "On the Street," "Burning Questions," and "New York Outer Boroughs," all of which may beg the question "what's that freakishly gangly white man up to this time?", but also seem to suggest Bourdain will be continuing his more recent tradition of throwing in 'specials' between exotic travel destinations to touch more specifically on subjects and places close to his own undoubtedly pork fat-laden heart.

And, as we begin yet another round of travels with Anthony Bourdain this season, there remains something truly inspiring about his relentless faith in the crucial importance of being 'a traveler, not a tourist,' and his constant struggle to find a common ground in the face of even the most violent cultural differences and boundaries. Unlike so many other self-proclaimed 'foodies' and family-friendly travel guides, Bourdain's personal crusades for open-mindedness and universal humanity deliver valuable lessons about the often harsh and unsexy realities of what it truly means to be human. His talent for unearthing extraordinary beauty in the everyday, the picayune, and even the grotesque is uncanny, and almost always worth sitting up and paying attention for, especially for so many of us who may never get the same chances to fully explore and experience the larger world outside of our sheltered and privileged lives.