Anthony Bourdain: Daily Routine

Anthony Bourdain fought chaos with routine—waking early, writing before coffee, and finding clarity in jiu-jitsu and laundry.

Anthony Bourdain was a chef. He was an author. He was the host of his own cooking and travel TV show, Parts Unknown. In between those roles, he also juggled a number of other ventures in publishing, with Anthony Bourdain Books, films, and magazines – he was the sole investor and editor-at-large at culture & politics website Roads & Kingdoms.

I change location every two weeks. I’m not a cook, nor am I a journalist. The kind of care and feeding required of friends, I’m frankly incapable of. I’m not there. I’m not going to remember your birthday. I’m not going to be there for the important moments in your life. We are not going to reliably hang out, no matter how I feel about you. For fifteen years, more or less, I’ve been travelling two hundred days a year. I make very good friends a week at a time.

When asked why he worked so much and rarely took a break, Bourdain explained that he was afraid of an “inner hippie” taking over his life. “I understand that free time is probably my enemy. That if I’m given too much free time to contemplate the mysteries of the universe, I’m afraid of that inner hippie emerging,” he told Men’s Journal.