Elisa Menendez
FINAL episodes of the late Anthony Bourdain’s eponymous Parts Unknown series are set to feature a trip to northern Spain.
The legendary celebrity chef was filming series 9 of the critically acclaimed food-travel show when he was found dead in a hotel room in France having tragically killed himself, aged 61.
Incredibly emotional and full of classic Bourdain no-nonsense humour, the colourful final six parts include an episode on Asturias, while the first – a tour to Kenya – premieres today.
Joined by Asturian chef and humanitarian Jose Andres, the pair hike to a remote village in the mountains to try a traditional fabada (bean stew), search ocean cliffs for rare percebes (gooseneck barnacles) and get lost in the region’s famous secret cheese caves.
The novelist and TV personality also tucks into a pitu de caleya (chicken stew) with local musician Pablo Und Destruktion and learns about Asturias’ last working class movement.
At last week’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards the show won six accolades, including Bourdain’s ‘long-coveted’ honour for an outstanding short form nonfiction or reality series – something he had been nominated for numerous times.
“It had always eluded him, the one he had always coveted, so it is with tremendous bittersweetness that I accept it on his behalf,” said producer Lydia Tenaglia at the ceremony.
The father-of-one had travelled to Spain and Catalunya multiple times, with an episode in Andalucia among critics’ favourites where he falls in love with Granada’s tapas, Alhambra and gitano culture during Semana Santa.
He said: “Any reasonable, sentient person who looks to Spain, comes to Spain, eats in Spain, drinks in Spain, they’re gonna fall in love. Otherwise, there’s something deeply wrong with you.”
