"Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations"
A New Travel Channel Series from Zero Point Zero Production
"As always, the food, the table is the best way into an unfamiliar culture. It’s there that I get to see people and places at their best and most guileless. But food is simply a vehicle, my way in to explore larger subjects. Once I’m in, I quickly move away from strictly food/chef concerns - to other areas of compelling interest…” -Anthony Bourdain

THE CONCEPT
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations is Anthony Bourdain’s A Cook’s Tour meets Lost in Translation.

Best-selling author. Reluctant celebrity food guy. Culinary adventurer. Drinker, smoker, hedonist…the list of descriptors could go on and on, but one thing is certain: in this increasingly food-obsessed world, Anthony Bourdain has carved out a distinct place as a gastronomic Indiana Jones. His quest for the perfect dining experience was smartly documented on the television series A Cook’s Tour (based on his book of the same name) and now Bourdain’s journey is shifting into the next course…

As Anthony Bourdain is and has been a professional chef and writer for over three decades, his starting point-of-view will always reflect that experience. But while his wanderlust continues to be driven by his quest for the unique dining experience, it is the people and places that he discovers en-route to the dining table that makes Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations such a riveting journey.

In Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, anti-celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain is out of the kitchen…on the road…recipes not included.

THE STYLE
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations is NOT A SHOW EXCLUSIVELY ABOUT FOOD. Shot verite style, each one hour episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations is a stand-alone essay on a premise as illustrated by PEOPLE and PLACES.

The fundamental proposition for the show is that the world of cooks, of ALL people who like to cook and eat ANYWHERE is connected - almost like a secret society or subculture. Everybody in that world knows everyone else or can easily reach out to someone. Cooks have special access. But as always, the food - the table - is only the launching pad for a wider look at a culture and society. In Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations it is simply our way IN to larger subjects. So a desire to experience dried fish and pure Russian vodka in St. Petersburg, for example, leads Anthony to an exploration of Russian hothouse saunas, and the practice of jumping into a frozen lake to “revive” with dried fish and vodka as his post-dip snack. Or a search for a meal to “cleanse his system” in Singapore lands Anthony in the office of a Chinese herbalist who thoroughly evaluates his yin and yang for deficiencies…

With our basic strategy that the table is the best way into an unfamiliar culture - that it is there that we get to see people, places and cultures at their best and most guileless - we will quickly MOVE AWAY from strictly food concerns to other areas of compelling cultural interest. Whether making his way through the fog-shrouded highlands of Papua New Guinea, visiting the last vestiges of a World War II cargo-cult, or trying to make sense of life in Las Vegas, Nevada our intrepid journeyman dives headfirst into life’s colorful and rich pageant.