Celebrated chefs Jose Andres and Eric Ripert are asking restaurant operators and food enthusiasts to share their memories and appreciations of the late Anthony Bourdain via social media on June 25, which they’re hoping to establish as Bourdain Day.
The Tuesday would have been the 63rd birthday of Bourdain, the chef, writer and TV star who took his own life June 8, 2018, while on location in France for one of his shows. He was doing the shoot with Ripert, the chef at Le Bernardin in New York City and a longtime friend of Bourdain.
In a video posted on Twitter and quickly picked up by foodie websites such as GrubStreet.com, Ripert explains in heavily French-accented English that “We are all going to celebrate the birthday of our dear friend, the beloved Anthony Bourdain.”
Andres then “translates” the message in his heavily Spanish-accented English for viewers who “don’t understand French,” the chef quips. They then both toast Bourdain by drinking from porrons, a type of wine flask that’s popular in Spain.
The pair asks viewers to post salutes and recollections of Bourdain on social media by using the hashtag #BourdainDay.
News reports at the time of Bourdain’s death indicated that Ripert found the body of his friend. Bourdain had hung himself in the shower of his hotel room.
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